Slayers Academy
by Zinka
Summary: Yipee! Finally got chapter 7 up(I haven't been on fan fiction in 4 ever!^.^!!!Highschool storyline with entire Slayers gang plus origional characters made by me^_^ Loosley based on origional slayers story and world....Review and get a small part in story!
1. Slayers Schedules

**Student Name & Roommate**

**First Period**

**Second Period**

**Third Period**

**Lunch**

**Fourth Period**

**Fifth Period**

**Sixth Period**

**4th Years**

Selene

RM-Naga

Chemistry/ Eris

Magick/ Black 4th/ Vrumugun

Elective/ Art/

Calculus/ Eris

Weapons/ Swords/ Gaav

Weapons/ Archery/ Gaav

Xelloss

RM-Zangulus

Chemistry/ Eris

Magick/ Black 4th/ Vrumugun

Weapons/ Staffs/ Gaav

Calculus/ Eris

Elective/ Drama/ Joe

Magick/ Shaman 4th/ Vrumugun

Valgaav

RM-Stewart

Chemistry/ Eris

Elective/ First Aid/ School Nurse

Magick/ Black 4th/ Vrumugun

Calculus/ Eris

Weapons/ Swords/ Gaav

Elective/ Gov. History/ Prince Philionel el di Sailune

Naga

RM-Selene

Elective/ Mythology/ Aqua

Magick/ Black 4th/ Vrumugun

Chemistry/ Eris

Weapons/ Archery/ Gaav

Elective/ Drama/ Joe

Calculus/ Eris

Zangulus

RM-Xelloss

Magick/ Shaman 4th/ Vrumugun

Weapons/ Swords/ Gaav

Chemistry/ Eris

Elective/ Martial Arts/ Sifu Joel

Weapons/ Swords/ Gaav

Calculus/ Eris

Filia

RM-None

Weapons/ Staffs/ Gaav

Elective/ First Aid/ School Nurse

Chemistry/ Eris

Calculus/ Eris

Elective/ Drama/ Joe

Magick/ Shaman 4th/ Vrumugun

**2nd Years**

Lina

RM- Crescent

Elective/ Mythology/ Aqua

Magick/ Black 4th/ Vrumugun

History/ Milgasia

Language/ Milgasia

Weapons/ Swords/ Gaav

Elective/ Gov. History/ Prince Philionel el di Sailune

Crescent

RM- Lina

History/ Milgasia

Language/ Milgasia

Elective/ Art/ 

Weapons/ Archery/ Gaav

Weapons/ Swords/ Gaav

Magick/ Shaman 3rd/ Vrumugun

Zelgadis

RM- None

History/ Milgasia

Weapons/ Swords/ Gaav

Elective/ Art/

Language/ Milgasia

Personal Field Training

Magick/ Shaman 3rd/ Vrumugun

Celeste

RM- Sylphiel

History/ Milgasia

Elective/ First Aid/ School Nurse

Weapons/ Staffs/ Gaav

Elective/ Martial Arts/ Sifu Joel

Magick/ White 2nd/ Vrumugun

Language/ Milgasia

Sylphiel

RM- Celeste

Weapons/ Staffs/ Gaav

Elective/ First Aid/ School Nurse

History/ Milgasia

Elective/ Martial Arts/ Sifu Joel

Magick/ White 2nd/ Vrumugun

Language/ Milgasia

Gourry

RM- Romulus

Elective/ Mythology/ Aqua

Weapons/ Swords/ Gaav

Elective/ Art/

Language/ Milgasia

History/ Milgasia

Magick/ Shaman 2nd/ Vrumugun

Romulus

RM- Gourry

Elective/ Mythology/ Aqua

Weapons/ Swords/ Gaav

Magick/ Black 2nd/ Vrumugun

Elective/ Martial Arts/ Sifu Joel

History/ Milgasia

Language/ Milgasia

Manda

RM- Martina

History/ Milgasia

Elective/ First Aid/ School Nurse

Magick/ Black 1st/ Vrumugun

Language/ Milgasia

Weapons/ Swords/ Gaav

Elective/ Gov. History/ Prince Philionel el di Sailune

Martina

RM- Manda

History/ Milgasia

Magick/ Black 2nd/ Vrumugun

Elective/ Art/

Language/ Milgasia

Elective/ Drama/

Weapons/ Archery/ Gaav

**1st Years**

Amelia

RM- None

Writing/

Geography/

Weapons/ Staffs/ Gaav

Magick/ White 3rd/ Vrumugun

Elective/ Drama/

Elective/ Gov. History/

**6th Years**

Moggy

RM- Matt

Grad. Course/ Priesthood

Grad. Course/ Priesthood

Grad. Course/ Magick 7th/ White

Field Study

Field Study

Field Study

Luna

RM- Rune

Grad. Course/ Knighthood

Grad. Course/ Knighthood

Grad. Course/ Weapons/ Swordsmanship 7th

Field Study

Field Study

Field Study

**Note on the Scheduling:**

Years first through fourth have the same elective, magick, and weapon class choices.  Years fifth and sixth have field study as their last three classes.  Fifth years have one magick special, one weapon special, and one pre-graduation course for the first two classes.  Sixth years have full graduation course for their first three classes…

**AND….**

The obvious schedule changes will be noted in the fourth chapter…Hope this helps clear things up a bit…and as for teachers, well, if I haven't found one from the series I'll just refer to them as the instructor, teacher, professor, etc. etc. in the story…


	2. Registration Day

**Slayers Academy**  
_Chapter 1_-Greetings **Selene**  


It was the last day of a long summer. The sun rose over the sleeping city of Cehpied, nestled along the river 'God's Flow'. Merchants opened shop and bakers removed fresh baked bread from ovens. And soon to be students unwillingly got out of bed; it was time for them to register in the schools that they would be slaving away in for the next year or so.  
Heading north along 'God's Flow', a traveler would encounter a school for the particularly gifted and skilled. Resting atop a lonely mesa amid a lush evergreen forest rose the mighty Slayers Academy. Six gothic spires that represented the different levels of the academy reached above the tops of the pines towards the skies. The rest of the school sprawled out amongst pines, blending in with the forest, yet intimidating visitors with its size. Large green creeper vines grew along the walls and framed the large intricate windows of the Academy. The Slayers Academy was truly school amongst schools, and students everywhere longed to be accepted to the academy. It was by far the least prison like school in the Cephied area.  
However, to Selene Lunar, the Slayers Academy was just another school, just another prison. She stood before the gated entrance to the academy, staring at the school motto engraved on the gate: "The light amist the darkness." A small sigh escaped from her lips.  
_That's not right_, Selene thought. _This is the armpit of darkness_.  
The light breeze tousled Selene's long brown hair across her shoulders of her loose green tunic. Her sharp hazel eyes bored into the motto sign, and she wished it would just burn away. Eventually, she pulled her gaze away and headed into the grounds. As Selene wandered around the school, she noticed that the campus was rather empty of people. She began to wonder if this was the correct day for registration, that perhaps she came a week early.  
"Of course this is the day of registration," she reassured herself. "I've been dreading this day for months. Well at least my mother isn't registering me this year. I would die if she tried that again."  
Selene didn't exactly agree with her mother on many things, but they both agreed that Selene should become more responsible for herself. She was a 4th year student after all, with only two long years left in her school/prison term. However, she had spent her first two years in 3 other schools. Her transfer to the Slayers Academy during her 3rd year was turning out to be a good move, but the she had trouble dealing with the student body.  
During Selene's beginnings at the Slayers Academy, she had kept mostly to herself, as making friends might cause her trouble. She did make a few friends, though, and at the top of the small pile was a set of twins, Crescent and Celeste Moonstorm: identical in looks(to a point) but very different in character. These sisters had introduced Selene to their rather large circle of friends, and she became mildly popular amongst them. She also met their older brother, Moggy. During that encounter, she came to the startling discovery that he was in a rather amorous relationship with Lina Inverse's older sister, Luna- a fact not well known in the Academy. A fact that Selene had stored away for later use on a rainy day, as she knew blackmail was a useful tool.  
Selene shook herself from her thoughts as she came to the Registrar's Office. She inhaled deeply, uttered a small prayer under her breath, and strode through the double doors.  
Were she proceeded to walk into another student, causing them both to tumble. As Selene rose, she gazed about the large office took in the action. The scene before her was chaotic at best. In the large office were crammed a hundred or so students and several teachers. The teachers were engaged in a futile effort to maintain order while signing up students to there respective classes and dorms. People were shouting to be heard, and more people were shouting louder to be heard over them. The volume grew and grew to raucously loud pitch. Students could be seen being squeezed in the mob, and several students were 'misplaced'.  
As she stared at the insanity, a single thought popped into her mind- "Oh hell. Now I'm really screwed. No one in here knows what they're doing!" After realizing this she turned the full force of here glare onto the student she had bumped into.  


**Crescent**  


By the late afternoon, the temperature had dropped drastically, and the wind had picked up in intensity. The lone figure walking towards the edge of Cephied pulled her coat closer to her body. She stumbled, and the books she was carrying were dropped. She stooped to pick them up, and at that moment, a sudden gust of wind blasted her.  
"Great," sighed Crescent. She re-wrapped the coat around herself and picked up the many books. "Its definitely going to snow this winter, maybe even in the fall." I just wish that I could find a coat that actually fit, my, ugh, body. Crescent let out another sigh.  
Crescent came from a rather normal family. Aside from the great curse that had been put on them long ago, it was an average family indeed. Crescent's grandfather had been a ambitious person in his youth, and had performed deeds that no one would have been proud of. The grandfather had cursed the gods, and in return, the gods had cursed him, and all his descendants. It was even rumored that the curse was a joint effort of Lord Ruby Eyes and the Flare Dragon God Cephied. The extent of the curse was variable: those under the curse would turn into man-beasts when they became too emotional.  
For Crescent, the curse turned her into a bird creature, complete with wings, tail feathers, horns, and talons for hands and feet. Much of it had been avoided, as Crescent was normally a calm person. Unfortunately, an event had transpired over the summer that had caused her to keep her wings permanently. No matter how hard she tried, they simply would not go away and worse was that the transforation happened more easily.  
Crescent had still not grown used to the burden when registration day rolled around, and she worried what her friends and peers would think.  
When Crescent thought about it, the wings were not that bad. She now could fly(if she ever got over her embarrassment of having wings), and the wing color was pretty. They were a golden brown at the top and faded to white towards the tips. Still, Crescent was certain that her dorm roommate would faint dead at the sight of her, and she dreaded the trip back to the Academy.  
Crescent neared the city limits, and she paused to make sure no one was around. As long as she had them, she might as well make use of the wings, and she decided to fly back. With the cargo textbooks, it would be easier than walking, and she might even impress some one with a graceful landing. As she was about to remove the coat for take off, she heard someone behind her."  
"Hey there, lil' missy, what yah hidin under the coat?" said a young cocksure voice. Crescent turned to confront the voice to find herself partially surrounded by four guys.  
"Nothing," she stammered. "What do you want?"  
"Just some fun," said the boy who owned the voice. Crescent decided he was the leader. He edged closer in a rather obvious attempt to make a pass at her. "My names Duran. Its kinda dangerous to be walking out here by yerself." A lopsided smile appeared on his face.  
Crescent backed away slowly and considered her options. She was a magically inclined, but it was forbidden to use magic within city limits. Crescent was also well trained in martial arts, but she was outnumbered, and the boys appeared to be no slouches, either. She was about to make a break for it when she backed into a fifth guy who immediately grabbed Crescent's wrists. Crescent let out a small shout and spun about, kneeing the assailant in the crotch. He let go and collapsed to the ground writhing in agony.  
"We got a frisky one here," shouted Duran as he charged towards Crescent. With her eyes ablaze, she vaulted over his shoulder and spun in the air and kicked him in the ass, sending him flying into a nearby tree.  
When Crescent landed she immediately collapsed to the floor. A wave of nausea swept over her. She looked at her hands and saw that they had begun to change.  
"Not now," Crescent pleaded with her body. She saw the five boys circle her warily as they stared at her hands and the horns that formed above her eyebrows. Crescent felt the tail feathers grow and her shoes rip open as her feet changed to talons.  
Duran frowned, "Looks like we've got a monster on our hands." He step towards her as two of his buddies grabbed her wrist and effectively restraining her. "I bet I know what she's hiding under that jacket. Lets see if I'm right, shall we?" He ripped of her jacket revealing her, of course, her fabulous, but now useless, wings. Crescent had fully transformed into the bird harpy, and she was very weak.  
"Please," Crescent whispered, "leave me alone."  
A smirk crossed his face. "Of course we can't do that. You pranced around making fools of us. You need to be, ah, ......punished," he said with acid in his voice.  
Duran signaled to the other two guys and they came over and pinioned her, forcing her to the ground. They began to pluck feathers from her wings causing excruciating pain to spasm her back. Crescent was lost in a panicked thought, trying to figure out why she was so weak. The answer was simply that the emotion that caused her to change was fear, and fear induced weakness which controlled her body.  
_Just my luck_, she thought. _How am I going to get out of this ?_  
As Crescent's hope began to fade with the onslaught of pain, another unfamiliar voice called out.  
"Leave her alone," said the calm, even voice.  
Duran spun about to face the source of the voice and came face to face with a blue skinned man with rock like growths on his skin. Mustering up all his bravado, Duran issued a feeble retort.  
"You cant tell me what to do," he said. "Wait, yer another monster, aren't ya, and yer tryin to save yer species. I hear its endangered!" With that, the whole group fell to the floor laughing.  
The calm blue skinned man simply pulled out a sword.  
The group stopped laughing. The guys holding Crescent's wrists let go, and she rose to her knees to see what was happening. Duran had drawn a sword also and he and the blue skinned man were circling each other.  
"You wanna fight, eh weirdo?" Duran said.  
"Not really, but if you insist," his opponent replied. Duran raised his sword and charged forward, the blue skinned man merely side stepped and tripped him. Duran sprawled onto the ground, but to the amazement of Crescent, he recovered quite nimbly, flipping himself onto his feet.   
Duran studied the blue skinned man that had just floored him, then decided quickly on another course of action. "Fireball!" he shouted, and a red burning orb of flaming mass shot from his hand towards the blue skinned man, who simply side stepped again. The fireball continued past him and headed towards the members of Duran's gang,...and Crescent.  
_This is not good_, she thought. She cringed as the ball neared and right about when it was going to hit, she felt herself being moved. The fire ball hit and exploded, to Crescent's amazement, a good 50 feet away from were she currently was. She looked up and saw the blue skinned man standing over her.  
_He must've used a teleport spell_, she guessed._ Very smooth._  
Duran let out a curse as he saw his four 'henchmen' burned to a crisp. "God damn it all."  
"You know, what you just did was sort of...illegal," said the blue skinned man in that calm tone of his.  
"Shut yer face!" Duran shouted, spittle flying everywhere. He was now obviously quite disturbed, and flames could be seen dancing in his eyes. "Now you die, blue boy!!" And Duran charged forward, sword raised high. This time the blue skinned man met Duran's sword with his own, and steel rang on steel. Duran was lashing out violently, while the blue skinned man was making well calculated moves. The battle lasted for a few minutes, but the blue skinned man slipped on a loose cobble stone, opening his guard up to Duran's attack. His aim was true, and Duran's sword went straight into the blue skinned man's stomach. The sword promptly shattered into hundreds off pieces.  
Crescent gasped. So did Duran. The blue skinned man simply looked at Duran and raised an eyebrow.  
"Need a new sword?"  
Duran stammered for words. "But-b-but...I...ah.."  
The blue skinned man moved forward and Duran spun on his heels and took flight. The blue skinned man moved towards Crescent and kneeled next to her.  
"Are you okay?" he asked.  
_Great_, Crescent thought, _now he thinks I'm a wimp_. She stood up as she reverted back to normal, except, of course, for the wings. "I'm fine. I'm fine. Just a little shaken." She looked at the man and finally noticed the odd rock growths on his skin that seemed to define his features. His hair was of a even darker blue than his skin. Crescent realized she had been staring, and she quickly averted her eyes and stared at the ground. "Sorry to have caused you trouble," she mumbled.  
"That's okay," he replied. "Just try and stay out of it."  
Crescent realized she was being chastised by someone her own age, and that irked her. As she felt her strength return, her anger returned as well. "Hey!" she shouted, "its not my fault that they attacked me!"  
"Oh really? Then whose fault is it? Mine? If you hadn't noticed, your aren't exactly in the safest part of the city. Maybe you should stop walking with your head in the clouds and pay attention to where you are going. Then maybe people wouldn't have to rescue you!"  
"I didn't ask you for your help, thank you very much!"  
"I know, you were to busy being pinned to the ground!"  
"Why you little insignificant......" Crescents words trailed off as her anger consumed her and her transformation happened again. She collected the books and took off. After a few minutes in the coolin air, she realized that she had not gotten the man's name, and she regretted this the more she thought about it.  


**Celeste**

Celeste Moonstorm stood amidst the many kiosks that were selling all sorts of clothing. Her shoulders were slumped forward in the poise of utter boredom. She normally loved shopping, but not when she has to spend money on things she didn't want. Like the school's uniforms. "This is soooo boring," she whispered. "Why do they make us wear these stupid uniforms?!"  
"You know perfectly well why we have to," relied Sylpheil, smiling at Celeste as she handed her a maroon knee length skirt with gold trim. She searched around one kiosk and found the rest of the uniform, a white sailor top with maroon trim and a gold scarf. "Just think what some people would wear if there wasn't a uniform." A mental image of Naga in her barely-qualifies-as-clothing outfit flashed in both the girls minds, and they shuddered in disgust.  
"I guess you're right," sighed Celeste. "But why is it such horrible colors?"  
Sylpheil giggled. "Is there anything you do not complain about?"  
"What do you mean?!" Celeste asked over defensively.  
"Oh...nevermind. Lets go pay for these and find the guys."  
"Sure , sure. Oh, and can you believe these outrageous prices?!"  
**2 hours later**  
"Where are they!!!," Celeste yelled, Syphiel cringed, it was not normally very healthy to make Celeste mad and the boys knew this. So where were they? Suddenly Syphiel remembered something. Carefully she approached Celeste and put a restraining hand on her shoulder.  
"Calm down, Celeste," Syphiel whispered, "You wouldn't want to 'change' right here in the middle of the town, would you?" Celeste shook her head.  
"Good, now we must think. Where would the boys want to go-"  
"Even if we told them not to-" Celeste added.  
"And even if they knew they would get in trouble." Syphiel finished.  
"The Bazaar." Both girls said it together.  
Celeste darted off grabbing Syphiel by the hand as she went. Soon they were at an alleyway between two small buildings. Music and shouting could be heard from the alleyway and above it was a sign that read; The Bazaar! The girls entered the area which was crowded with dancers, merchants, and civilians. Celeste grinned evilly and Syphiel knew she had something in store for Romulus.  
"Oh Celeste," Syphiel pleaded with her friend, "Don't be too harsh on Gourry and Romulus. You know they can hardly resist a good party or anything like that."  
"Yeah, one with many scantily clad girls around." Celeste muttered. "don't worry Sylphiel," she continued leading her friend through the Bazaar, "Gourry has nothing to worry about, he'd be to dimwitted to cheat on you, it's Romulus I'd pray for." Finally they arrived at a small both, decorated in some sort of Arabian motif. "Aha!" Celeste exclaimed, Syphiel glanced around.  
"What is it?" she asked, "I don't see the guys anywhere."  
"Of course not," Celeste replied, "They would know better than to be out in the open. But look, there is another room that goes with this booth. It's where I usually find Romulus hiding." She laughed manniachly and dragged Sylphiel through the door. On the other side they found a room full of male and female entertainers dancing, talking, and flirting with the guests. Sylphiel wondered if they could really find the boys in here, since there were so many people walking around. She had no reason to worry because Celeste spotted them instantly and again pulled her along.  
They walked up behind the boys who were unaware of their presence. Romulus was flirting with one of the entertainers while Gourry stood behind him, gulping down a foreign drink. The entertainer saw the girls approach but said nothing, instead smiling to let them know she saw them.  
"So what do you say?" Romulus leaned forward, "Someone like you must be a fabulous dancer."  
"Oh, I don't know," the girl replied, "I was really sent here to give you a message."  
"What message?"  
"Oh, one from these two girls," the entertainer winked, "Something about you not being somewhere..."  
Romulus straitened up and glanced around. "Gourry, you don't see the girl anywhere, do you."  
"Uhhhh..."  
"Nevermind," Romulus turned back to the girl, "If they were here they'd have fried our asses by now. I mean-"  
"That's right," Celeste shouted, finally showing herself, "I would and will fry your asses!" Sylphiel followed Celeste. The entertainer laughed and glided away.  
"Gypsies," Romulus muttered, "You never can trust 'em."  
"Well you shouldn't have been here anyway. Come on Sylphiel, grab your man and lets go." Gourry looked up from the platter of food he had managed to get.  
"Eh?"  
"Just come Gourry," Sylphiel said, "You shouldn't eat Bazaar food, it's terribly unhealthy for you. I'll make you a good healthy meal when we get to the dorms." Gourry smiled and stood.  
"Sure Sylphiel," he grinned, "I always like your cooking best." Celeste and Romulus watched the two go on like this for awhile.  
"How come I can't get punished like Gourry?" Romulus whined.  
Celeste growled, "Now what would be the fun of that. And besides, I can't cook."  
"You sure got that right."  



	3. The First Day

Quick description of area and such: Okay, the classes and teachers aren't really important but they will remain fairly constant and accurate. This story is based somewhat in the Slayers world but it's not specifically placed in any one city. Lets see, coupling are listed in the review and the characters Selene, Crescent, Celeste, Manda, and Romulus are all mine. I'm sorry if you don't like the story but its really written for me and my friends so it's really serious based on my fantasies. And yes, Lina plays a lot more in the second chapter and in the rest of the story. Also if you don't like that some of the characters are, well, out of character, sorry again. I'm not a fabulous writer or anything this is just for funJ Anyways, thanks for reading and please review! ^_^ Slayers Academy 

_Chapter Two_-The First Day

Selene pushed open the gates to the main courtyard, much to her pleasure it was full of students so she didn't have to worry about whether or not she was late. Sighing she made her way to the smaller section branching off from the courtyard. This section contained students as well but it was the entrance to the fourth year hall so of course only fourth years bothered to come here. Selene couldn't help but yawn, she had hardly gotten any sleep last night and the idea of an entire day of school where teachers would be talking about the same things over and over again only mad it worse.

_Geez, not even an hour into school and I'm already bored_. Selene thought heading towards the Fourth Year Entrance to the school. It was too bad that she would have no one to talk to, Selene was really wishing Crescent and Celeste were older when she was distracted from her thoughts by someone shouting her name. Glancing up she saw a grinning figure approach her.

"Morning Selene and Happy Birthday!" Xelloss chirped as he produced a small package and held it out to Selene. "All ready for the first day of your fourth year experience at Slayers Academy?"

Selene looked at the gift-wrapped present and then at Xelloss. For the third time that morning she sighed and stepped around Xelloss. "It's not my birthday and no, I'm never ready for school."

Still smiling, Xelloss began walking with Selene. "Tsk, tsk, aren't we grumpy this morning. What's wrong? Are you homesick or something?"

"No," Selene growled, "I just didn't get any sleep because my roommate was laughing in hers…goddess, she had a laugh that could beat hyenas." At this Xelloss stopped and pulled on Selene's uniform forcing her to stop as well. "What!?" Selene shouted.

"Well, This roommate of yours…" Xelloss replied, "Is she tall, long-dark hair, stacked like a brick house, and wears barely qualifying clothing when not in school uniform?" 

Selene nodded. "And?"

"You mean you've never met Naga before? Consider yourself lucky."

"Yeah well now she's my roommate and I'll never be able to sleep again."

Xellos smiled and forced the gift he carried into Selene's hands. "There, your birthday gift will make you feel all better."

"It's not my birthday." Selene muttered. There were plenty of student's around so she quickly stopped one. "Here, take this present and go open it way over there. You can keep whatever's inside." She told the student who nodded and walked off tearing at the paper on the box. Xelloss' smile quickly turned to a frown.

"You know it's not polite to give away birthday gifts." He pouted.

"It's not my birthday," Selene replied and resumed walking towards the school building, "And besides…" She trailed off as a small explosion took place behind both Xelloss and Selene. Turning they could see that the space where the student with the present had earlier been standing was now occupied by a small pile of ashes, "….It's not really all that polite to put a bomb in a gift either." Xelloss grinned and both approached the large double doors that led inside Slayers.

"After you." Xelloss said.

"That's okay, I'd rather walk behind you."

Xelloss smirked, "Darn. Well, let me know if you change your mind." He stepped forward and pulled open the doors.

Selene followed suite shaking her head, "Why are you always trying to kill-" she stopped. She had finally looked into the hall, which was crammed full of fourth years trying to get to class. Selene found the scene oddly familiar and realized it looked exactly like registration day except in a hallway. "Oh hell."

"Come one, Selene, You didn't think it'd be over yet did you?"

"Urk." Selene responded. "Oh well, shall we?" She grimaced and the two began to push their way through the hall occasionally shoving a student or two into a nearby wall. They had almost made it to their first class when a student stopped them.

"Hey. Can you two help me?"

Selene was forced to stop because Xelloss already had so she face the student and saw why Xellos had become so interested in him. He was tall with Aquamarine hair and a horn in the middle of it. Selene wasn't positive but sensed that there was defiantly something interesting about this student. Surely Xelloss had felt it too which is why he had stopped.

"Umm," the student said again, "Can you help me?"

"Sure…" Xelloss grinned.

_Uh oh_, Selene thought, she recognized that look. It was the same one he had given her when she had first met Xelloss. Quickly she put herself behind Xelloss and began to frantically wave the student away.

"I'm Xelloss and this," He turned to Selene who smiled, "Is Selene." She resumed her warning.

"I'm Valgaav. So do you know where the Chemistry class is?" Xelloss nodded and Selene shook her head. She groaned, aware that she was probably confusing the student terribly.

"Why," Xelloss replied, "As a matter of fact me and Selene happen to have that class next, would you care to join us?" Selene frantically shook her head, mentally screamed at the student to run away, and mouthed the word 'NO' but Valgaav seemed intent on blundering on into acceptance.

"Sure."

Sighing Selene listened as Xelloss said the magic words and they were transported to the Chemistry room. The room had been empty except for Eris, teacher of chemistry and calculus, who was currently stomping towards Xelloss.

"Xelloss!!!! You know better than to use magic on school property without teacher permission!"

Xelloss shrank back in mock fear, "But Ms. Eris, this student forced me too. He saw that I was much weaker than him and made me bring him here to avoid all the hassle of the halls."

Valgaav realized that Xelloss was referring to him and began to protest. "That's not true, why would I force this skinny wimp to do something like that!?"

"See!" Xelloss shouted, "He calls me a wimp!"

"Why you little-"

"Enough!" Eris shouted. "Selene, why don't you tell me what happened."

Selene said nothing, to do so she would either have to turn Xelloss in or say the new student did it and normally she didn't mind making people's life crap it was just that this guy hadn't really done anything to her.

"Very well." Eris huffed, she went back to her desk and began scribbling furiously on three different sheets of paper. "All three of you will have detention this afternoon." She handed a slip to each student and sat down at her desk. "If you don't show up you'll be given detention for the rest of the week, do I make myself clear?" All three students nodded and glumly sat in their seats, except for Xelloss who smiled broadly. He turned back to face Valgaav and gave a thumb's up sign. Valgaav just grimaced in return.

Valgaav left the class quickly hoping that the Xelloss character wouldn't catch up to him. In his haste he bumped into another student who went sprawling to the ground. "Sorry," He muttered as the girl stood up, "I wasn't-"

"Watching where you were going." The girl finished, glaring at him. She was short with shoulder length blonde hair, "Look, just next time be more careful and less clumsy."

"Sorry," Valgaav repeated, "It's ,my first year here and since you're a first year I'm sure you must understand." At this the girl looked ready to explode, fortunately another taller girl approached with a smile on her face.

"What's up Manda?" The second girl asked.

"Well first this jerk bumps into me and then he calls me a first year, can you believe that, Celeste?"

The taller girl smiled at Valgaav, "Sorry about Manda, she's just very temper-mental but I'm sure you apologized and everything, right?"

"Yeah."

"But-!" Manda protested.

"Well then everything's fine, I'm Celeste," The taller girl greeted Valgaav, "And this is Manda. Can we help you with something?"

"Uh," Valgaav frowned, he wasn't sure whether he should ask for help or not, he didn't want to get any more detentions on his first day. The appearance of a girl that resembled Celeste remarkably kept him from choosing and he noted quickly that she had wings. Valgaav couldn't help but stare.

"Hi Manda, hi Celeste, what are you guys doing?" The girl asked. Celeste noted Valgaav's gaze and quickly introduced her sister.

"Crescent this is Valgaav whom we've just met, Valgaav, this is my twin sister Crescent."

Crescent smiled weakly and murmured hello. Manda looked furiously at Celeste who shrugged. "Anyway," Crescent murmured, "I've got to go back to Milgasia's class. Cya guys." She left quickly and Valgaav followed her with his eyes.

"What are you staring at!" Manda shouted, "She's not a freak yah know!"

"I didn't mean it like that." Valgaav replied, "It's just you don't see anything humanoid or monster breed-like very often, and well…" He trailed off and gestured to the horn resting on his hair.

Celeste smiled, "I understand, but Crescent's really completely human like me. It's just we've got this curse thing and well, it's not a good thing. Anyway, I'll explain it later if I see you again, we've got to hurry to our next class."

Valgaav nodded, "Sure, umm, do you know where the First Aid Class is?" Manda and Celeste smiled.

"Yes, we have it next." Valgaav had a flash of deija-vu and a sudden increasing need to run away, but before he could indulge it he was being dragged to his next class.

Selene as sure she'd never make it too the end of the day but was surprised at how quick it had been when she got to her last class. She was also surprised at how many friend she had in that class. Crescent and Manda were there but they were both talking to a redhead and Selene felt rather not like meeting yet another new student at the school. She was also surprised that Valgaav was in this class as well and a little dismayed when she was paired with him.

The class was weapons and more specifically Swords. Selene's favorite had always been the Saber so she grabbed one quickly. Each student was paired with another student at their experience level and the two would then practice sparring. Unlike most teachers, Gaav did not feel the need to explain anything since most of the students had been to Slayers before, and therefore placed them in sparring position quickly.

Selene wasn't worried about losing to Valgaav but more so about putting him on even worse footing with herself. She knew that Xelloss would make it a point to torture Valgaav for the rest of the year like he had done her so in turn all three would have become friends, sort of. She just hoped Valgaav realized it.

As both students got into sparring position Selene was sure she had heard Valgaav muttering something.

"You have something to say to me?" She challenged.

"Just don't' cheat," The new student replied.

"Like I'd need to."

"Well, I'm assuming that anyone who hangs out with a wimp like Xelloss would be a wimp herself." Valgaav retorted.

Selene grimaced, "Look, Xelloss isn't actually much of a wimp. And yah know that whether you like it or not he's gonna torture you for the rest of the school year."

"We'll see about that, for now, let's just get this over with so you can lose."

By this time a crowd had gathered around the pair and many of the students were watching eagerly. Selene couldn't help but like standing there in the spotlight. "Fine then, if your so sure you're going win why don't we bet on it?"

"Sure, when I win you have to tell Eris what really happened."

"Sure, what about me?"

"Name your price."

Selene thought, there was nothing she really wanted from this guy, well, maybe… "Okay. If I win then you have to take all of Xelloss' torture with no complaining and give him a fair shot at being your friend. Not like he'll really need it."

"Right then. Let's go!" Valgaav flung himself at Selene who sidestepped. She had the advantage of having trained in Martial arts since childhood and most people had and will never see that kind of footwork. She dodged all of Valgaav's blows and struck back with her own. At one instance their blades caught and Valgaav tried to force Selene to her knees. "Give up little girl, you're not that strong."

"Go to hell, jerk." She jammed his hand with the hilt of her sword and and rolled away. The two squared off again. This time they matched each other step for step and Selene felt herself getting tired. _Come one, just open up once. _She pleaded silently. Finally she noticed it. Valgaav tended to cross his legs when he sidestepped, with a little martial arts she could sweep him and tag him with her sword. Quickly she closed the space between them, Valgaav tried to swipe his sword upwards but missed and Selene jabbed at his side. He sidestepped and Selene quickly dropped and kicked her leg out effectively collapsing him to the floor. As fast as possible she slashed his protective gear in three places, winning the fight.

A large number of cheers went up from all the girls in the class. Selene beamed and put a hand out to Valgaav. He pushed it away and stood on his own.

"I said I'd be friend with Xelloss but you didn't say anything about you." Valgaav growled and turned away, pushing his way through the crowd.


	4. New Student

**Slayers Academy**: _Chapter 3_-The New (or rather) Late Students **More side notes**: Just another note, this fan fiction doesn't follow the anime to a T so if you don't like them that way don't read it, or read it and give it a horrible review ^_^ Anyway, I just wanted to point out that I know Rezo and Kopi Rezo aren't twins it just happens to be so here...also, due to much consideration I've decided to make Filia a student which means no Filia/Milgasia relationship (check reviews for more detail) and probably means that she and Xelloss will end up together and therefore means that Selene and Valgaav will end up together. Also, I would also like to say that as incentive for reviews I'm giving anybody who does give me a review a small appearance in the story (very small), so please! Review, review, review! (You can tell me how bad I stink at writing but at least review!) Anyway, on with the story:   


**Chapter Three**  


The principle's office was only seen by students who entered, as the blinds were always closed and the only thing visible through them was a faint glow of purple. Because of this, rumors spread easily about the room and what it held, it was also rumored, or more precisely assumed, that the principle liked it that way, as he himself was considered very eccentric.   
His name was Rezo, and he was blind, although many students liked to think he wasn't _just_ so they could explain the way he stared at you with closed eyes. Needless to say the students would always try to figure out what was behind the doors and those who went in often came out with stories of strange potions and crazy concoctions. Zelgadis, however, was unimpressed. In fact, his grandfather never impressed him, only annoyed him, with his hair-brained experiments.   
Currently Zelgadis sat while Rezo tinkered with one of his toys, explaining the reason he was one week late to Slayers Academy, not like he wouldn't have preferred never coming at all. "So, not only did the city detain me but the transportation as well. Apparently they had to check several times before letting a _monster_ enter their city. I thought you said humanoids were undiscriminated against here." Zelgadis told his grandfather, raising an eyebrow. He'd dealt with prejudice before but had hoped to find some relaxation around Slayers. Rezo sighed and sat at his desk.   
"Apologies grandson but when I said 'here' I meant at Slayers Academy itself, even then I can only guarantee the faculties non-discrimination of humanoids. Besides, I heard that you deliberately beat up a group of five boys." He grinned.   
"By their story that's how it went," Zelgadis shrugged, "But it doesn't matter what really happened, there are more serious things to talk about."  
Rezo turned away from Zel, "Like what?"  
"Like whether or not I really need to attend this school."  
Rezo turned back to his grandson, "Education wise, not really, which is why a lot of your classes are advanced, but you know why you're really here. Your mother wants you to socialize..." He paused and pulled a folder out of one of the drawers in his desk, "I also think you'd be happy to know that there are other humanoids here at Slayers, and, based on my observations they all seem to be getting along well. I'm sure that if you wanted I could give you this." He held the folder out to Zelgadis.   
"Those are confidential files, Rezo," Zelgadis muttered, "And I don't need you to guide my personal life."  
"As I thought." Rezo stood indicating the sessions end. "Well, school doesn't begin for another half hour but your welcome to go to your first class. As you requested you have a single dorm. I'm sure your first teacher will assign a student to help you throughout the day. Good day." Zelgadis nodded and left quickly.   
He hoped that his first period teacher _wouldn't_ find it necessary to give him some partner throughout the day as he could pretty much figure out what was where, all schools were the same to him. He walked through the halls briskly, knowing he'd get to his classroom before any student entered and could spot him. Zelgadis glanced at his schedule, _Milgasia_, he read silently, _for a history class? Well, since he's a gold dragon he must've been around for a pretty long time. Hopefully his views on history aren't distorted by opinion. _ Zelgadis looked up and found himself at the right room. He entered and found the teacher at his desk.   
"Hello." Zelgadis said, bowing his head. Milgasia looked up from his work.   
"Ah, Zelgadis," Milgasia greeted, "Have a seat, your grandfather did say you'd be in one of my classes. I understand that you won't be taking the language course?"  
"Correct," Zelgadis replied, taking a seat in the back of the room. He would have preferred the one in the back left corner but oddly enough it had a reserved sign on it. Instead Zelgadis took the next to it. He noted that the reserved seat was a different type of desk and wondered who got to sit there.   
Milgasia resumed his work and Zelgadis waited for school to begin. When the bell did ring students filed into class and took their seats. No one claimed the reserved seat.   
Milgasia started class by launching into a discussion on the project that they would be assigned. Zelgadis found his mind wandering, which was odd for him. _I should pay attention in class_, he told himself trying to focus on Milgasia's words. It was then that two late girls entered the classroom. Zelgadis recognized neither of them, though he really couldn't see the second student's face, he was more interested her wings anyway.   
"So good of you to join us," Milgasia started, the shorter of the two girls smirked.   
"No problem," She retorted, shaking her blonde hair, "You know we never want to miss your class, Milgasia."  
"That's Mr. Milgasia to students, Ms. Cotton," he said calmly, "For both your tardiness and interruption of class you will have to go to detention this afternoon." The girl with her head bent over looked up and instantly Zelgadis recognized her. Manda frowned, obviously subdued somewhat.   
"Sir! Ummm, it was really my fault, Crescent had nothing to do with it." She pleaded with the teacher, "Seriously don't punish her on my behalf."   
"So you forced her to be late to class? You forced her to walk more slowly in the halls and hang back when all her other peers where going to class?" Crescent blushed at Milgasia's words.   
"Look," Manda replied, obviously her anger had returned, "It wasn't like that. It was like the halls were moving or something cause nothing was where it should have been!"  
Milgasia handed both girls detention slips, "Needless to say you arrived late? Well, despite your story I still have to assign detention slips and now you've earned the task of helping the new student out throughout the day."   
Zelgadis saw Crescent's eyes scan the room, finally resting on himself. Her grimace said enough, she recognized him. It seemed now that the rest of the class also realized that there was a new student and although Zelgadis didn't notice it the other females were glaring enviously at Manda and Crescent.   
"Zelgadis Greywords is our new student class," Milgasia continued, "Zelgadis, this is Manda and Crescent, make sure they wait for you after class. Please take your seats ladies."  
Manda glared at Milgasia and then sat in the front row where Zelgadis noticed another girl that looked like Crescent. Crescent walked around the entire room and Zelgadis was sure he heard some snickering from some of the girls she passed. She took the seat next to him, and Zelgadis watched out for the corner of his eye as she tore the reserved sign off the desk and dropped it on the ground.   
Milgasia continued his discussion but Zelgadis found himself unable to focus. He was instead watching Crescent, discreetly. Her eyes wandered out the window, and he could see she was bored. Finally she looked around the classroom and then began to stare at Zelgadis himself. He turned his eyes back to Milgasia but he could still feel her eyes on him. Finally she poked him. Zelgadis turned.   
"What are you doing with that?" She whispered, and pointed to Zelgadis' quill. Zelgadis would have liked to jump a cliff for using the feather he had. It was the same one he picked up after 'rescuing' her. It was obviously from her wings but it made a great pen. Even though this was true, Zelgadis wasn't sure how Crescent so instead he just shrugged.   
"I just picked it up off the ground somewhere." Crescent didn't really look like she was fooled but she turned away from Zelgadis anyway. He sighed and turned back to Milgasia.   


After class Crescent quickly approached Milgasia's desk. "Uh, Sir? I think Manda should show the new student to classes on her own, she really has more classes nearer to him." Manda also approached the desk, while Zelgadis waited at the door, both of them looked up at Crescent's words.   
"Let me see your schedules please," Milgasia asked, all three of them handed over the slips of paper and while Milgasia examined them Manda pulled Crescent to the side.   
"Look Crescent," she whispered furiously, "I know you don't like to let guys get in the way of your studies but this one is really cute! I think you should show him around with me anyway, and besides he was glancing out of the corner of his eyes at you all class. I was watching."   
"It was because of my wings," Crescent replied softly, "I don't want to show him around and I don't want to talk about this anymore. I've got a feeling that that guy can hear everything we're saying, you know, I think he must be a chimera."  
"Whatever," Manda grumbled.   
"Alright," Milgasia interrupted their conversation, "You are right. Crescent but since the two of you have one class together after lunch you will have to show him to that class. Is that satisfactory, Ms. Moonstorm?" Crescent nodded and turned back to Manda.   
"See?" Manda glared at her but she continued, "I'll find him after lunch, cya later, okay?" She pushed Manda out of the room and went back to her seat, she was glad that she had this class twice, that way she didn't have to go into the halls.   
Looking for a spot at lunch wasn't really hard to do, _if_ either you ate outside _or_ if you were Lina Inverse. Luckily Lina preferred eating outside so she didn't have to worry about beating people up during lunch. Of course, she did have to worry about finding Crescent but generally Crescent seemed to find Lina pretty well and pretty quick. Now, they both searched for a spot to sit at and were actually having trouble until Lina spotted something that absolutely tickled her.   
"Zelgadis," she grinned. Crescent looked over.   
"What did you say?"  
"Nothing," Lina replied grabbing Crescent's hand and dragging her to a large tree. Underneath sat Zelgadis, not eating, with his eyes closed. Lina came up and sat down, pulling Crescent down too. "Hi, Zel, long time no see. What are you doing in a fine establishment like this?"  
Zelgadis opened one eyes and glanced at Lina, "I was just about to ask you the same question. What school does this make? Your twenty-seventh?"  
Lina glared at Zelgadis, "Hey, I haven't been kicked out of that many schools, this is only my twenty-first. Anyway I've got a friend that you should meet. Crescent this is Zel, Zel, Crescent."  
Zelgadis eyes flicked up to see Crescent who sat uncomfortably behind Lina. Both muttered icy 'Hello's' and Lina could just feel the temperature drop. "Uh, have you two met before?"  
Crescent started to say something but Zelgadis interrupted, "Crescent and a friend of hers are helping me around school today. Thank you for formally introducing us now will you leave Lina?"  
"Not when there is food I know you aren't gonna eat, how 'bout it Zel?" Zel sighed and handed over his untouched food, which Lina quickly dug into. Between mouthfuls she spoke to them, trying to break the silence. "So, you two have never met before."  
"Never," Zelgadis said quickly, he stared at Crescent to see if she'd say otherwise.   
She shrugged, "Actually I was sure that Zelgadis had helped me the day before school but I guess it wasn't him, after all, I'm sure he'd never want to do something like that."  
Lina frowned, "Why not?"  
"Because he's a-"  
"Hi there," a girl interrupted. Zelgadis recognized her as one of the girls who'd been snickered at Crescent. Dislike immediately flooded his senses. The girl however was unaware and instead sat very close to Zelgadis. "You are Zelgadis right? You're new here and I'm in some of your classes. I could really help you out at school, show you who and who not to hang with." She looked pointedly at Lina and Crescent.   
Zelgadis shrugged, "I like where I am here." Lina had not looked up from her food and Zelgadis wondered if she had even heard what the girl had said.   
"Really, you sure?" The girl pouted.   
"You heard him," Lina grumbled still gulping down food, "He says he likes where he is so back off."   
The girl looked indignantly towards Lina. "Well I just thought he'd like to sit with the more socially accepted and higher classed of us rather than with some flat chested red-head and her _harpy_." Zelgadis would have liked to trash the girl but knew better, besides Lina got to it first.   
"FIREBALL!!!"  
Zelgadis watched not feeling the tiniest bit sorry for the girl as she flew through the air where the nurse caught her and dragged her inside. _How did she know_ that _that would happen_, Zelgadis thought.   
Lina nodded and finished her meal, "No one insults Lina Inverse or her friends! Geez, I wish I could learn the trick of that nurse showing up everywhere and everything."   
Crescent looked a little pale and shocked that Lina had done that but nodded anyway and forced a smile. "Thanks Lina."   
"Don't just thank me, Zelgadis was ready to do something too, you can tell when he gets all tense like that. Anyway, I'm just glad I got to her first." Lina grinned at Zelgadis' face. "Don't grimace at me, Zelgadis." She stood and picked up the leftover trash from her meal. "Well, I have to go throw this away, I'll see you two later. Crescent nodded and waved goodbye. After Lina disappeared Crescent turned to Zelgadis.   
"Thank you for this time and last time."   
"Don't. So where is this next class?" Zelgadis said. He stood and waited for Crescent to lead him. After a minute she finally stood too and began walking.   


Crescent's fourth period class was one of her favorites, art. She loved the subject and she loved the friends that were there. Selene, Gourry, and someone she had only met this year, Filia, all appreciated and were exceptionally good at art. The only thing she disliked now was the newest addition to the class, Zelgadis.   
"I can't stand your work, Crescent, it makes me so jealous." Selene complained to Crescent. Crescent muttered something inaudible back and then continued to stare into space. Selene exchanged a look with Filia and Gourry. "Uh, Crescent? This is the part where you reply, 'No, that's not true, your stuff is way better then mine. I hate you!' And then we go into the whole I hate you, you hate me thing." Selene mimicked their conversations on each other's art. She leaned over in front of Crescent. "Hello! Earth to Crescent! Are you in there?" Crescent started and almost fell back in her seat.   
"Sorry, I was just thinking."   
Filia smiled, "We could tell."   
"Yeah," Selene grinned, "You missed to castings of fireballs and three explosions outside. Not to mention you've been ignoring us since you got to class."   
Gourry brightened, "Does it have to do something with that guy you came into class with?"   
Crescent shook her head, "Why would it have to do with him?"   
"I don't know," Gourry shrugged, "He's in my weapons class though and he's a really good fighter. Pretty cool too, just kinda' a loner."   
"Oh really?" Crescent looked thoughtful, "I kind of already knew that though."   
"It is him. Isn't it?" Selene frowned, "So what's up with the guy?"   
Crescent would've responded but a pair of late students entered the class causing the teacher to go into hysterics. "That's the third group of students to come into class late, isn't it?" Crescent asked.   
"Yes," Filia replied, "I was late to one of my classes too, and a lot of people were late in it. And some other classes."   
Selene nodded, "Yep, there were tons of people who were late in my classes."   
"I was late to my first period this morning, and Lina said she was late to her magick class. That seems like an awful lot of people being late today. Strange, isn't it?" Crescent thought. "Well, anyway, I've got detention after school today. You want to meet me there, Filia? Lina will also be there."   
Filia agreed along with Selene who had detentions for other reasons. "I swear," she muttered, "The day I decided to start hanging out with Xelloss was a sad one, ever since then I've had detentions almost every other day."   
"I hate him," Filia muttered, her face sharing the emotion. "I bet he's the one who's behind all the late students."   
"I don't think even Xelloss could pull a prank that big." Selene laughed, "But he might. Though he knows I'd kill him for it."   
"Well, I'm sure if it is him we'll find out," Crescent said, standing and gathering her books. "Anyway, now it's time to go to our next class. Try not to be late you guys, buy." She left quickly, realizing she'd been doing that a lot lately. Well, it's all because of Zelgadis, she thought, he makes me so uncomfortable but I don't know why. Probably because he makes me so mad, oh well, I'll just have to get over it. I can do that, in fact, Zelgadis Greywords can no longer get under my skin. Wait a minute, where'd I learn his last name?   


The detention room, that evening was very full, and Lina found it almost impossible to even get inside, it was crammed so tightly. Detention was held inside the classroom of Milgasia, which was big enough for a class of about thirty to forty students. Now, they were trying to cram almost 60% of the entire 1st through 4th year class in and it wasn't working. Not to mention that an old acquaintance of Lina's was standing on Milgasia's desk and preaching about corrupted students arriving late to class.   
"I can't believe so many students are arriving late to class. Don't you see that you are the few who have been accepted to such a prestigious school and that you must uphold the law of that school? You have been corrupted, yes, I understand, but if you only follow the path of light and justice you will overcome all-"  
"AMELIA!" Lina shouted, pulling the student down from the desk, "No one is listening, you see? They are all going into the halls to have detention. Why don't you just go to your dorm, eh?"   
Amelia blushed, "Oh, hi Lina-san. Since when did you start coming to Slayers? Anyway, I can't go to my dorm, I have detention too." Lina face-faulted and then jumped up to face Amelia.   
"But you were just preaching about being late to class, don't tell me you're a hypocrite!?"  
"NO!" Amelia shuddered, "Of course not, I'm not here cause I was late. I begged to have detention so that all the poor souls here could understand that I know what it feels like and so then they'd be more open to following the path of justice!" She struck another flashy pose, at the same time striking Milgasia in the face. "OI! So sorry, teacher!" She shouted, bowing to the professor. Milgasia nodded and shoed Amelia away. He then turned to Lina.   
"Lina, you know Xelloss, right?" He asked.   
She grimaced, "Unfortunately. Why?"   
"It seems the principal wishes to see him. Something about casting a spell on the school to make the halls look different and such."   
Lina grinned, "Oh really, have you disclosed this information to anyone else?" Milgasia shook his head. "Then don't worry, I'll take care of it." Milgasia nodded and left. Lina glanced up and down the hall of Slayers, yes; there were a lot of students who'd want to get back at Xelloss. She quickly chanted a spell that would cause her voice to be magnified and began speaking. "Students of Slayers Academy. It had just been explained to the person speaking, heh, that the fourth year, Xelloss, has been convicted of spell casting in the school and is the reason why over 100 students have attended detention today. Starting now the price on his head is 10 gold pieces for whoever catches him, and yes, he will be accepted slightly burnt, crisp, beaten, or anything else you can think of. Heh heh. We encourage hunting in large groups and the price we have offered may increase regularly. Have a good afternoon." Lina sat smugly in the hall while a rush of students began to plan, scheme and post wanted porters in the school. She smiled when Xelloss appeared in front of her looking somewhat angry.   
"Hello Lina-san," he began casually, "Did you know that about fifty students have just burned down my dorm room, which, thank Zelas, is a one person dorm that only I sleep in?"   
"Really?" Lina replied innocently, she went and stood in front of a wanted poster, "Could this be the cause? The picture is awfully bad, it just doesn't capture your monstrous qualities."   
"Thank you Lina, but now really isn't the time for compliments. I'm a wanted man, and I have a feeling you're behind it."   
"Really?" Lina repeated, "Why me?"   
"Because the posters say to turn me into you."   
"Oh? Look at that, they do. Well, Xelloss, I'd hide if I were you. The price is about to go up ten gold pieces."   
Suddenly a mob of high-schoolers appeared down the hall. "LOOK! There he is. Get him!"   
"I'll get you for this, Lina san," Xelloss muttered, fading out. Lina laughed and headed towards her dorm. What an interesting year this would be.   


**Author's note**: Okay, bad ending to this chapter but oh well.. Heh heh, you guys will love what comes next…..^_^  



	5. Murder?

**Slayers Academy**

Chapter Four- Murder?

            Gaav widened his stance, visibly panting.  He wiped his brow and looked at Gourry who held his stance perfectly not a sign of exhaustion in him.  _This is pathetic, Gaav thought, __I'm losing to a student, a blonde idiot who over eats and doesn't even know he has a girlfriend.  He sighed and shook his head, Insulting Gourry silently would not help him win, he obviously wasn't going to tire the boy out and Gourry didn't seem like the type to get angry.  This was not good, Gourry was too good a swordsman and Mozoko Academy would never stand a chance against him.  "Gourry!" Gaav yelled, the blonde smiled and waved back, indicating he heard. "How about we call this match a draw and I pay for your dinner over at the inn?"  Gourry brightened and Gaav thought for sure the boy would give in, sparing his own embarrassment, but Gourry shook his head and held his sword in ready position.  "Your loss!" Gaav shouted laughing.  He charged the boy and swung sharply.  But Gourry ad already moved and arched his own blade up under Gaav's arm.  Just in time Gaav fell away almost losing his balance.  Gourry took this chance to step forward and sliced at Gaav's sword arm.  The blades caught and since Gaav was already off balance he was forced to his knees.  Gourry grinned._

            "Ready, Sensei?"  Growling Gaav rolled away and stood.  Gourry just turned to face him.  "Sir, you're much too tense, you should loosen up when you fight.  It's a wonder you beat Zelgadis like that."  Gaav wanted to yell and scream at the boy but instead he smiled and stabbed his sword into the ground.

            "I give, Gourry, I'm too old for this.  Good job.  You'll find out what these matches were for tomorrow morning.  In the mean time rest up.  I think Sylphiel is waiting for you over there."

            "Really?" Gourry scratched his head, "Why would she do that?"  He sheathed his sword and ran over to her. Together the couple walked off and Gaav went inside.  Waiting in his room was a visitor and he greeted her icily.

            "Eris, what can I do for you?"

            She made a face at him, "Nothing, but obviously my dear Kopi Rezo thinks you can do something for his school.  Listen, you had better find some way to get that Gourry kid out of the running, he's way to good for Mozoko Academy."

            "I know," Gaav replied, sitting at his desk and pouring himself a little Saki.  "I know you can make clones of people so do you think you'd be able to duplicate a sword?"  Eris blinked uncertainly at Gaav before her eyes cleared with understanding.

            "Of course, I can." She laughed quietly and left the room.  Gaav smirked and sipped his drink, _Slayers Academy will fall so fast..._

*****

            Celeste waved her sister over to their booth. "Hey, Crescent? Could we have some more drinks?" She smiled sweetly.

            "Of course you can." Crescent replied icily but she flashed Celeste a grin before going behind the counter.

            Laughing, Celeste turned back to her table.  Selene, Manda, Filia, and Romulus sat around her. Sylphiel and Gourry were supposed to be arriving shortly, apparently there had been some last minute Sword Practice.  Crescent was working her shift at the inn, The Matron, where she and her new friend Lina had gotten jobs.  Apparently Rune Simbriant, school president, was a friend of Lina's sister and also worked at the Matron and had gotten Lina a job as a favor.  Celeste thought that was cool since Rune was one of the most popular girls in school.  Sylphiel and herself were looking to the sixth year for tips on running a campaign for school president.

            Lina, however, didn't have a shift and had decided finish work for school, leaving Crescent in a foul mood and a waitressing outfit.

            "Here you guys go," Crescent said, handing out the drinks, there was one extra and Crescent drank it quickly, "I've got a couple of minutes break. Can I sit with you guys?"

            "No we don't want you around." Manda replied, "You'll cramp my style with that flashy waitress skirt."

            Crescent pushed the girl over and sat down, sitting on the edge where her wings hung over the seat.  "Stop it, you know I hate wearing this outfit!"

            "Ya know, I'm sure some of these guys like it." Selene replied, giving Crescent a large wink.  Crescent blushed and ruffled her wings.  The group laughed before being interrupted by the appearance of a very nervous looking Xelloss.

            "Hey, have any of you guys seen Lina?  She hasn't removed that stupid bounty thing, oh, and nice skirt Crescent."

            "No, and you're not supposed to be using magick in town limits!" Filia growled jumping up from her seat.  "I'm glad Lina hasn't removed that price, maybe I'll just turn-"

            "XELLOSS-SAMA!!!" A large shout came from across the inn.  The entire booth looked up in time to see a girl attach herself to Xelloss.  "Oh!  I'll protect you from that horrible Lina!"

            "Riley?" Celeste asked, it was a girl from her language class, "What are you doing?"  Filia, looking much annoyed, separated the girl from Xelloss and turned on her.

            "He doesn't need any protection, the idiot got himself into that mess and he'll get himself out!"  While saying this, Filia had been dragging the struggling girl to the door where she promptly kicked her out.  She turned, obviously hoping to find Xelloss but he had already vanished.  She sighed and returned to her seat where everyone exchanged quick glances.

            "Umm, well I have to get back to work," Crescent said, breaking the silence, "Do you guys need anymore drinks?"  At that moment however three guys entered the inn.  They all looked smug, and Celeste noted that they also wore Mozoku Academy uniforms.  She looked away from them to make some outrageous comment when she saw Crescent's face.

            "What's up Crescent?" Manda asked, "You know those guys?"

            She looked at Selene and the two exchanged a worried look.  That peeved Celeste a little, obviously Crescent had told Selene something and not her.  "Yeah, sort of.  Anyway, they've seen me, I guess I have to go."  She left, slowly approaching the table.

            "Alright, what was that all about?" Celeste asked, keeping her eye on Crescent.

            "Dunno, they're just guys from the other school, why should she be so upset?" Romulus added.

            "I think you're about to find out," Selene said, not looking at the rest of them.  They all turned to watch as Crescent began to talk to the guys.

            "Good afternoon, can I get you something to drink?"

            Duran grinned, "That's fine, miss.  How 'bout three beers, eh?"  Crescent nodded and went.

            "That wasn't so bad..." Manda said, "I mean, besides the fact that they seem like real slugs...they didn't really do anything though."

            "I don't know." Selene stated firmly, "But whatever happens you guys please don't interrupt."

            "What? Why?"  Celeste asked, but Crescent had already returned with the drinks and they all focused their attention on the table.

            "Hey, you wouldn't care to join us, would you Miss?"  Duran asked with an evil smile.

            Crescent paused; it was inn rules that the staff was to never refuse drinks from any customer, as long as it didn't infringe on their work.  Looking around she saw that that excuse would not work; the inn was practically empty except for her friends and some other customers.  Still, there was no way she was going to sit with these idiots.  "No thanks." She finally replied, poison dripping from her words.

            Duran's eyes flashed dangerously; before Crescent could walk away he had her wrist and had pulled her roughly into a seat.  "Hey now little Miss wings, you remember me don't yah?  You're good friend Duran?  Ah would hate to think you weren't gonna show me some kind of hospitality, especially when you look so nice."  He hissed the last word making Crescent pull away.  But he refused to let go.

            "Never."  Crescent whispered, "Let go of me or you'll be seriously regretting it."

            At the booth on the other side of the inn Selene was pulling everybody back into their seats.

            "Let go of me Selene," Manda hissed, "I'm gonna rip that guys lungs out!"

            "Not if I get to him first!" Both Filia and Celeste said together.

            "I wish I had my sword, I tear him into such tiny pieces!" Romulus added.  Selene was fazed by none of this and pulled all them back into their seats.

            "Look you guys, Crescent has already dealt with these guys, only she lost.  If we interrupt now she will definitely be mad at us."

            Celeste nodded but still looked worried.  She'd seen that look on Crescent's face.  She was channeling her anger so that she could release it all at once.  The transformation would make her strong but also dangerous.  She stood and held a hand out to Selene motioning for her to be quiet.  Then she ran to the back of the inn.

            "So what will you do, girlie?"  Duran asked, still gripping Crescent's wrist.  "Are you going to get blue boy to come in and save you again?  Funny I don't see him here."  His henchmen laughed and Crescent glared at them.

            "So are guys his lap dogs or something?" They stopped laughing and Duran began to bend her wrist backwards.  Crescent did not yell out.

            "I'd be careful if I were you, miss." Duran said icily, "Maybe you should just come outside with us?  Eh?"  Crescent didn't have to respond, she felt the anger build, felt the changes happening. She stood bringing Duran with her and threw him to the ground.

            "I already said never."  His henchmen attacked, together, trying to overpower her.  It was useless, as a normal girl she was pretty strong, but in this transformation she was probably twice as strong as any man or woman.  She threw them away from her, one landed in an empty booth and the other on the ground.  She turned, and saw a kick coming at her.  Too late to block she let it hit her in the stomach, she did not flinch and Duran stared at her stupidly.  Grabbing him by the color of his uniform she lifted him so that his feet were dangling from the ground.  "Leave me alone."  Out of the corner of her eye she saw Celeste bringing out the manager.  Looking around she saw what she had done and quickly dropped Duran.

            "I'm not finished with you, girlie!" Duran shouted, gathering his henchmen and leaving.  Crescent heard a shout from behind her and turned to find Manda hugging her.

            "You were awesome!" Manda said.  "How'd you learn to do that?"

            Crescent didn't reply and instead sat.  Calming herself she felt the changes melt away, all except her wings.  Selene patted her on the shoulder and Crescent could hear Celeste explaining what had happened.  Then Sylphiel and Gourry walked in.  Gourry surveyed the room and scratched his head.

            "Did we miss something?"

  Celeste sat in first period wondering what had really happened at the inn.  She was sure that Crescent was hiding something else besides her obvious dislike of the guys from Mozoku Academy.  She sighed and glanced at her sister who was staring out the window.  That other guy, Zelgadis was glancing at her two but his face was blank and Celeste couldn't tell what he was thinking.  She didn't have time to figure it out because at that time the bell rang and Manda an her room mate Martina sat by her.  Milgasia was not in the room so Manda turned around and began talking to her.

            "Hey Celeste, you'll never believe what I just found out!" Manda squealed.  Martina began laughing loudly.

            "HO, HO, HO, HO, HO!!!"  Celeste was forced to cover her ears and she looked painfully at Manda.

            "Is she related to Naga?"

            "No, she's just Naga's best friend.  I've been trying to get her to stop." Manda added she clamped her hand over Martina's mouth and smiled apologetically at the class.  "Look Martina, say what you were going to say and don't laugh anymore! Got it?" Martina shook her head and Manda released her.

            "Manda, you would have never found out about it if I hadn't told you."

            Manda grinned, "Yes, but you would've never found out if I hadn't told you to ask Xelloss."

            "Ahhhhh…." Martina sighed, putting a dreamy face on, "Xelloss-sama…"

            "Xelloss-sama will be MINE!!!" A voice erupted from the back of the classroom.  Celeste looked up in time to see Riley bonk Martina in the back of the head.  _Damn she's fast…_Celeste thought as she stood and tried to help pull the struggling girls apart.  "Leave Xelloss alone you little slut!" Riley screamed, squirming to get out of Celeste's grasp.

            "Me?" Martina gasped, pushing Manda away and facing Riley.  "I'm no slut, I am a bone-I-fied Princess of Zoalgomaester!  Dare you call me a slut!?"

            "SLUT! Tramp! Ho-"

            "That will be ENOUGH!!!"  Milgasia shouted.  The entire class looked up.  No one had seen him come in.  "Riley, Martina…Both of you will serve detention this afternoon in my room and clean up this mess you made after class.  NOW SIT DOWN!" In a rush of students, papers, and desks everyone was seated with books and quills ready.  Milgasia's gaze swept the room.  "Good.  Now I have an announcement to make.  Slayers Academy will be competing in a tournament this year.  It is called 'Champions Skills…'"  The class moaned.  "…Yes, the name is…somewhat lacking, but the actual competition is a challenging and entertaining set of events that include weapons, free-hand fighting, magick, and other such skill areas."  The class was now murmuring with excitement. Celeste winked at Manda; _this could be fun_.  "Of course, we will not be fighting amongst ourselves, we will be fighting…Mozoku Academy."  An eruption of cheers was heard throughout the school as each teacher told this little detail to their class.  Mozoku Academy was a long rivaling school to Slayers and almost everyone carried on the natural rivalry.  "The first even will be in two weeks.  Gaav, your weapons sensei, has already decided the participants so of course the first event will be the weapons; skill and fighting.  The girls will be…Selene Lunar with the Saber, Rune Simbriant with the Rapier; those will be fighting matches.  Also, Crescent Moonstorm will be in the Archery skill competition and Naga the Ser-erm; Naga will be in the Whip competition.  For the boys we have Xelloss with the staff, Zangulus with the broadsword, Shadow, my personally trained student whom you may call Shadow Dancer, with the Foil, and Zelgadis with the Bastard sword."  Milgasia looked up from the list he was reading.  The classroom was looking as if they'd just seen someone killed.  "What?" Milgasia asked, "Is that all you have to say?"  Slowly Celeste raised her hand.

            "Ummm…. Mr. Milgasia, you didn't call Gourry's name."  The rest of the class nodded.

            "Yes I know, his name was not on the list."

            "But he's the best fighter we have!" Someone shouted.  Choruses of 'yeahs' and 'that's true' went around the classroom.  Celeste gave them a look that quieted them.

            She turned back to Milgasia, "Do you think maybe Mr. Gaav made a mistake?"

            Milgasia looked pained, he knew that Gourry was their best swords-man; it was true that even the teachers, all except Gaav, had a held a meeting talking about it.  Didn't Gaav know that Gourry was the best!?  Milgasia had been elected to tell Gaav of his mistake, which is why he was in such a grumpy mood.

            "I'll have a talk with Gaav, I'm sure he just made a mistake.  Anyway, there is one more announcement.  A sixth class has been added on to your schedules.  That means some of your classes have been moved but mostly they have remained the same.  I will now pass out the newest schedule."  He did so, and Celeste was happy to see that she still had almost all classes with Sylphiel.  But still, doubt lingered in her mind about the tournament.  It was odd that Gaav had not picked Gourry.  That had to have been the extra practice Gourry had gone to the day before and Sylphiel had even said Gaav looked strangely tired after Gourry's fight, and that he had lost.  She sighed; this was way too confusing for her.

            "Gourry! Wake up you blonde idiot!  She didn't call your name!" Lina shouted into Gourry's ears.  He sat up with a start.

            "Wha-?"  Gourry mumbled looking around.  The entire class was looking at him as if they all felt sorry for him.  He wondered why.  "If she didn't call your name then why did you wake me up?"  Gourry asked, rubbing his ears.  Romulus patted him on the back.

            "Hey man, I thought for sure you'd make bastard sword, that's your specialty and it's the only thing both Zelgadis and Gaav can't beat you at."

            Gourry smiled, "Zelgadis is cool, but Gaav is kinda weird."  Suddenly his head swung back and Gourry realized Lina had his hair.  "Lina, please let go, that hurts!"

            Lina smiled and let go.  "Gourry, you dolt, didn't you hear any of that.  There is going to be a swordsmanship competition and you aren't in it!"

            "Really?" Gourry asked.  "That's too bad, it could have been fun.  Hey, is Zangulus in it?"

            Romulus nodded, "But that's not the point friend.  You _aren't_ in it and you're the best this school has."

            Gourry sat for a minute thinking this over.  "So?"

            The entire class face-faulted.  Lina jumped up.  "Don't you get it?  You should be in the competition.  That snake, Gaav, cheated you!"

            Gourry grinned, "Who wants to be in a tournament anyway?"

            "It's against Mozoku High," Romulus said.  Gourry's eyebrows furrowed and he placed a hand on the hilt of his sword; the students were allowed to carry swords as long as they didn't draw them.

            "You mean the guys who were messing with Celeste's sister?"  Gourry asked.  Romulus and Lina nodded.  "Hmmm, then it's really too bad I can't fight them."

            The teacher of the class, Aqua walked over to the table.  She smiled friendly and patted Gourry on the shoulder.  "Gourry, Gaav wants to se you and Romulus in his office now."  Gourry nodded and stood following Romulus out of the room.  Aqua turned to the class, "Now lets get back to those mythology notes."

            Romulus led the way to Gaav's office.  Down the hall, right, left, left…his mind wandered, w_hy is Gaav in his office instead of teaching? Why did that bastard not choose Gourry?  Doesn't he want us to win? Darn it, this is so confusing!_  Someone had stopped him, he looked and saw Eris standing in front of him.  She looked angry.

            "Romulus? I need to see you about your paper.  Gourry, you may continue on to Gaav's office."

            "But Miss Eris-" Romulus started.

            "No buts!  Go on Gourry."

            He looked at Romulus and shrugged heading on toward the door.  It was only two classrooms down Romulus watched Gourry enter the door.

            "What is it Miss Eris?" Romulus asked.

            "Don't give me attitude boy, I believe you have cheated and plagiarized on one of your papers."

            "What!?  I didn't-"

            "AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!"  A male voice screamed, two doors down.

            "What the hell was that?" Romulus said, swinging his head up.  Both he and Eris ran down the hall and flung Gaav's door open.  Gourry was on the floor rubbing his head.  His sword was gone.  Looking up Romulus could see where it was.  Gaav's familiar form was hunched over his desk, the hilt of Gourry's unmistakable sword protruding from his back.  Romulus looked away and Eris screamed.  At this second scream students and teachers were entering the hall and would soon see the scene that lay before Romulus and Eris and there was nothing Romulus could do about it.


	6. Gathering Clues

Slayers academy Chapter Five-Clues Gather  
  
The school had been in a buzz ever since Gourry's arrest but no one could really worry about him or his trial. Preparations for the tournament were underway and all the participants were busy training for their divisions. Only three days away was the first event and Celeste still hadn't helped Sylphiel free Gourry. School was off until the tournament, allowing some students to go on a short vacation, but to Celeste it meant an easier time looking for clues. "What's the point?" Sylphiel whimpered, "Maybe Gourry-sama did do it and I'm in love with a.with a.." She trailed off and burst into tears. Celeste gave her friend an encouraging pat on the back. "You don't really believe that, do you Sylphiel?" Celeste asked. Sylphiel shook her head but continued to sob. "Come on, the cops finally left so we can finally go and check out the scene of the crime. Then we'll be sure to find something the cops didn't notice and will probably set Gourry free." Sylphiel sniffed and looked at Celeste, "You think so?" "Of course, now come on." Celeste pulled Sylphiel up and dragged her in the building. Gaav's room was not hard to find since it was barricaded and covered with yellow tape. Celeste laughed, "This is the best they could do?" She quickly got trough the barrier and pulled Sylphiel along. "Okay, look for anything that looks suspicious or not exactly right." Celeste noticed that Sylphiel was turning green, "You okay Sylphiel?" "So much blood." She trailed off and shook her head, "But we've got to free Gourry!" "Right!" Celeste agreed walking over to the table where Gourry's sword lay. She reached for it. "Wait! Put these on first." Sylphiel handed Celeste a pair of gloves, "You know they've got all sorts of ways to track people now just by their fingerprints. Apparently it gets everywhere, and we don't want people to think we were tampering with evidence." Celeste grinned. "Sylphiel, super-spy extraordinaire!" She turned back to the sword and picked it up. It looked like Gourry's sword but something was wrong, she just couldn't name it. Wait! Few people knew about the history of Gourry's sword. She quickly pressed a small latch on the hilt. The metal blade fell off, revealing.the light of Gourry's real sword. "Darn it!" She hooked it back up and placed on the table. "Hey Celeste," Sylphiel called from her kneeling position on the floor, "Look at these footprints in the blood. I see Gourry's but then I see two sets that look like Gaav's. One is the obvious skirmish with Gourry while the other looks as if Gaav leaves after the.well, you know." "That's good stuff, but is it enough to convince to jury?" Celeste questioned. "I don't think so." Sylphiel sighed and stood. I think that's all we can find here. We better-" "You had better leave!" A voice shouted from behind the two girls. They turned and found Eris looking angrily at them. "You two are not supposed to be back here, this is a restricted area!" Celeste started. "But Miss Eris, this is for Gourry's defense! We are writing an article-" "Don't even try it young lady. You two go to your dorms. You are now restricted to your dorms until tomorrow morning. I don't even want to hear of your leaving the room or else you'll both have detention for as long as you can dream it." "But-" "Yes Miss Eris." Sylphiel said calmly. She pulled Celeste out of the room and towards the dormitories. "Don't worry Celeste, we still have two days until the tournament." "I really don't like that woman." Celeste muttered. "Neither do I, Celeste. Neither do I.  
  
*****  
  
Crescent pulled the string back. Release! She said it in her mind as well as physically doing it. The arrow flew and struck the target. Perfect. Crescent smiled, she loved the feel of the bow. It took strength to pull that string, especially in the bow she used. She knocked another arrow, pulled the string..Re- "Hey Crescent!" The arrow sailed into the sky. Crescent turned and watched as Selene and Rune approached. Selene was laughing. "Hey Selene. What's up?" "Your aim?" At this both Selene and Rune laughed. Crescent couldn't help but smile either. "I was doing just fine, ya know." Selene nodded. "We know. Anyway, we found out the competitors names from Mozoku High." Crescent looked up. "Yes," Rune smiled, "It turns out they aren't making it strictly boys against boys, girls against girls. In fact, I think there is only one female competitor on their team. And she's fighting me." "Okay, so what's the name of the boy's ass I'll be kicking?" Selene asked. Crescent looked at her. "Okay, okay, Rune went and got the list. I went and set up a couple pranks with Xelloss and Valgaav." "You will be fighting a boy named Juntai the Swift." Rune said, smirking. Selene grinned. "That's his name? You're joking right?" "Nope," Rune turned to Crescent, "You're competing against some guy named Duran the Dashing." Crescent had knocked another arrow during the conversation; she almost let it fly again. Carefully controlling her face she tried to laugh it off. "Really? These guys, heh, heh, they sound pretty full of themselves. Heh, I bet they're a bunch of wimps." She tried to smile but figured that probably both Rune and Selene had caught on. "Well, I've got to tell everybody else who they're fighting." Rune began to leave, "Get this, Zelgadis is fighting some guy named Moro the Wolf God!" she laughed and walked away. Selene turned back to Crescent. "I recognize that name, Crescent. Isn't he the guy who-" "Yeah, so?" Crescent replied harshly, lifting her bow and aiming for the target. "Just be careful and don't let this guy get to you. He is just a jerk who thinks he rules the world." "I know that!" Crescent released the arrow. It hit five spaces off the middle. She sighed. "Don't worry, I won't let him get to me." "Good." Selene smiled, "I've got to go practice more. Cya, okay?" "Fine, fine, Cya." Crescent nodded, knocking placing another arrow in her bow. She aimed.re- "Hello." The arrow went sailing through the air and landed ten feet behind the target. "Aargh!" Crescent shouted, turning around, "Can't you just leave me alone!" It was Zelgadis who had spoken. He stood there staring at Crescent. Lina stood behind him, laughing. Crescent blushed. "A little stressed, Crescent?" Lina asked, jumping in front of Zelgadis and put an arm around Crescent's neck. "I've got the cure for that. Let's go to a restaurant and get some food!" "Food doesn't cure everything, Lina." Zelgadis said pointedly. "Crescent probably had to practice which is why she would be ticked off." Crescent nodded. Lina stared in mock horror at them both. "How could I have such boring friends?! Besides, I don't have any money and I know Crescent does. Come on!" "Fine, what do you do with all the money you earn from work?" Crescent asked lightly, putting down her bow. Lina shrugged, "I guess I buy to many magick artifacts and stuff.some of them get pretty expensive.that and food of course." "I'll pay then, I guess." "Of course! And Zel is coming too, right?" "Whatever." Zelgadis muttered. "Hey," Crescent looked at Zelgadis, "Did you find out who you're fighting?" "No." Zelgadis replied. "His name is Moro the Wolf God. Funny, hmm?" "I guess so, it's at least fairly odd. So who are you going against?" Zelgadis asked. "Ummm." She paused; Lina was also waiting expectantly. "Can you believe it? Some guy named Duran the dashing!" She laughed loudly, as did Lina, but Zelgadis was still looking at her. She glared at him, mentally telling him not to say a word.  
  
The next day  
  
"Hi Romulus. What's the matter?" Celeste asked her boyfriend, sitting down next to him and Sylphiel sitting next to her. It was still morning and the two had gotten up early just to find Romulus. They had, and he looked pitiful and unshaven. Like he was very, very depressed. "What's the matter?" Romulus asked weakly, "What's the matter! A guys best friend has been arrested for murder and you ask him what's the matter?" Celeste nodded, "You know me and Sylphiel are going to find out what really happened. We'll be able to get Gourry out of that prison before tomorrow's tournament for sure. We just need to ask you some questions." "What's the point? They've moved Gourry's trial up to the exact same time as the tournament and you'd have to present any evidence you had then." "What!?" Celeste shouted. "They've moved up the trial!? How come I wasn't notified immediately!?" "I think they only notified the lawyers." "Me and Sylphiel are Gourry's Lawyers!" "What?" "Celeste and I are Gourry-sama's lawyers. You see, in the city they do not let the defense hire professional lawyers. They either have to defend themselves or get unprofessional help." Sylphiel replied helpfully. "Gourry chose you two?" "YES!!!" Celeste shouted, "Now are you going to help or not?" "Alright, I'll help. What do you want to know?" "Describe in full detail exactly what happened that fateful morning." Celeste said, pulling out a tape-recorder. "Oh, and by the way, will you be able to appear in court?" "Yes, yes. Here's what happened."  
  
..  
  
"So first Aqua tells you and Gourry to go to Gaav's office. Then Eris stops you and tells Gourry to continue to Gaav's office. And then you hear the scream. Now did it sound like Gaav?" Sylphiel questioned Romulus. "I guess so. It was a male scream." "Okay. So did anything seem suspicious?" Celeste asked. "Sure, Eris was accusing me of cheating on a paper that I didn't even turn in." "Really?" Celeste said. "But how do you have chemistry?" "I've already taken a ton of laguage classes." "Really?" "Yes really, now are you two done, you're starting to creep me out." Celeste smiled and pecked Romulus on the check. "Thanks Rommy, I'll see you in court." She left and Sylphiel walked beside her, looking apprehensive. "What's up Sylphiel?" "How do the teacher's communicate in school?" "Dunno. Wanna go ask Aqua?" "Definitely. Something is defiantly not right." "Besides the fact that Gourry is totally incapable of murder?" "That too. Let's go."  
  
  
  
Once the girls had found Aqua they began questioning her relentlessly. "How do the teachers communicate during class?" Celeste asked eagerly, "I mean, it seems as if you guys just know what each other are thinking." Aqua nodded, "Well girls, it is sort of an ESP link we have set up, we can communicate to all the teachers or to a specific few. It's good so that kids and teachers are not always interrupting class." Sylphiel nodded. "So when Gaav called Gourry to his office was he broadcasting to the entire school or just to you?" "Why, just to me, dear, don't forget, he also called Romulus. It is a shame Romulus wasn't with Gourry in the office. I'm sure nothing would have happened then." "Me too" Sylphiel agreed distantly, "Me too. Come on, Celeste, we're done, I think we've got everything we need." "What?" Celeste shouted, "We've interviewed, like, two people!" "I know. Aqua, will you be ale to appear in court?" "Yes dear," Aqua replied, smiling. Sylphiel thanked Aqua and pulled Celeste away from the teacher and into the hall. "Listen, trust me okay? I think I got.sort of.anyway, just trust me, okay? I know for sure that Romulus, Eris, Aqua, and Gourry will be at the court.those are all the people we need." Celeste frowned, "If you say so Sylphiel.I hope you know what you're doing." "I do." Sylphiel said more firmly then Celeste had ever heard her say anything. This assured Celeste far more then anything had in the past couple of days. She smiled and tagged Sylphiel on the nose. "You're it. We've got a day and a half till the tournament/trial with absolutely no school. Let's have some fun!" 


	7. A day of Trials

_Author's Note: _Okay, I know it's a little behind schedule but here is the next chapter, and let me tell you, I meant to have this up a whole bunch sooner but I kind of lost touch with fan fiction for a little bit.  Anyway, this chapter involves a trial, with you know, judge, jury, and lawyers and stuff, the only thing is, I really know nothing about how those work so I kind of just threw it together which means that this author's note is plainly just another warning for inaccuracy and such, but this is the way of my writing!^.^ Anyway, I included most of the names of the people who have reviewed for me so far and you'll probably see these characters again^.^ Also, eventually I'm going to get around to re writing the chapters I've written so far and then putting them on my own website with some pictures that I'll draw, I'll let anybody who's interested know when that is happening^.^ Oh an also, would someone please tell me how to spell Mozoko?

On to the story:

Slayers Academy 

Chapter Six- _A Day of Trials (hee hee)_

The tournament arena was huge and Crescent could swear there were over a thousand people sitting in the stands.  A huge square mat that was a hundred feet by a hundred feet sat in the middle.  There was a smaller square painted in the middle of the mat, it was only fifteen feet by fifteen feet.  The smaller square was where the sword fighting would be held.  On the far end of the mat there were a bunch of targets set up.  That was where the bow and arrow competition would be held and on the front half of the mat there were posts sticking up out of it.  The staff fighting would take place on those.  On the left and right side of the mat were gigantic stands.  The right stands were bright maroon and gold.  It looked like the entire school was there, wearing their uniforms and waving banners.  The left stands were filled with green and black.  The Mozoku Academy students were here as well and they did not look happy to be on Slayers grounds.

            "Oh my god, I can't do this."  Crescent said aloud to herself.  She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked.  Selene was grinning at her.

            "Don't worry.  You are an ace at the bow and arrow, hello?  I mean you've your family Moonstorm bow right there.  You'll do fine.  Just ignore your little stage fright problem and you'll be fine.  Now me however?  Damn, I didn't even practice the saber this weekend and I bet my mom is somewhere out there, waiting for me to embarrass her, or the other way around."

            Crescent smiled and Selene moved on to talk to Xelloss.  Crescent sighed and muttered very quietly, "I so cannot do this."

            "You don't listen well do you?"  Zelgadis asked her.  He had suddenly appeared right next to her.  She blushed.

            "What?"

            "Your friend gave you pretty good advice.  You should just calm down."

            Zelgadis' tone irritated Crescent, maybe it was because he was probably right, or maybe it was because he was sticking his little blue nose where it didn't belong.  "Look, Zelgadis.  I am just fine.  I know my bow like the back of my hand and I will win this competition no matter what.  Why don't you just focus on your own competition, hmmm?"

            Zelgadis shrugged.  "You don't have to get defensive and if you're so calm why are your hands shaking?"

            Crescent held up her hand, yes, it was shaking, very badly.  She turned it into a fist.  "My hands are not shaking!  You're just making stuff up because you're so nervous yourself.  You probably can't even match up to Gourry!" 

            Zelgadis turned on her.  "Why don't you stop accusing me and accuse yourself.  You're the one who is making things up; I was just trying to give a little advice.  If you didn't want any then you should have just said so."

            "I didn't even ask for your advice, you just gave it."  Crescent replied.  They both remained quiet, glaring at each other, both of them aware that the other was right on one count.

            "Hey Zel, hey crescent.  What's up?  Having a staring contest?"

            Crescent turned from Zelgadis and rushed Lina.  "Glad you're finally here."  She said shooting daggers at Zelgadis.

            "Why?  What happened?  And I can only stay down here for so long, only competitors are supposed to be down here and since Luna is here I can't get into anymore trouble or she'll fry my ass."

            "Just some troubles."  Zelgadis said absently.  "Looks like the tournament's about to start, better get going Lina."

            "Fine then, just kick me out."  Lina said sarcastically, "Thank you very much Zelgadis but Lina Inverse excuses herself.  Good luck you two."  She left.  Crescent glanced at Zelgadis.

            "We had better get in Line.  They'll be calling the competitors names now."  Zelgadis said, not looking at Crescent.  He walked towards Rune, Selene, Xelloss, Naga, Zangulus, and Shadow.  Crescent followed grumpily.

            Darn, Zelgadis got on her nerves.  The group of competitors got inline.  He was always acting so superior, like he was always right.  The announcer had started speaking and the stadium had gone quiet.  Of course, what bothered Crescent more was that he tended to also be right, and he was pretty good at almost everything.  The announcer went through a little speech and began introducing the fighters.  Rune was called first. Then the person she was going against.  The girl's name was Cassidy Dell; they called her Cassidy the courageous.  _Yeah, courageous for being the only girl on the Mozoku high team; Poor her_, Crescent thought.  The two walked up and into the center of the mat.  Zelgadis was blocking Crescent's view so instead she was seeing only his back.  Like most of the competitors he was wearing his own uniform for fighting.  He wore white pants, a white tunic, a white cape, a white mask, and a white hood.  Crescent thought it was bit dramatic.  She wondered what the material was.  Without thinking she reached out.

"Hey, what're you doing?"  Zelgadis whispered.  Crescent flushed.

"Just trying to see what your outfit is made of."  She replied sheepishly.

"It's silk, alright?  Easier to move in."

Crescent nodded, "Makes since.  A little overdone wouldn't you say?"

She thought she saw a flicker of a smile but then it was gone and Zelgadis just said, "Well, what about you?"

Crescent realized that Zelgadis had probably been about to laugh at her.  Celeste had designed her sister's outfit.  Crescent had only worn it to stop her sister's begging but now she felt really embarrassed.  She wore a leather tunic and leotard with one shoulder plate on her left shoulder.  She also wore tall green boots and a green choker, usually a green cape, but only when she didn't have wings, accompanied the outfit.  It was something she traveled in during the summer but it felt a bit showy and a bit flashy now.  She didn't have to answer Zelgadis however because he had already been called.  His opponent mirrored him as he walked onto the mat.  But before Zelgadis was out of earshot he turned his head and whispered.  "Don't let him get to you" And continued walking.

She was last and as the announcer called her name she felt her stomach flutter.  She watched as Duran stepped next to her.  He was grinning and waving to his school like he was a king.  Crescent wanted to kill him.

"Hey there, little miss wings.  So we meet again."  Duran said slyly as they walked.  "It's a pity I have to play against you, I'd rather be playing with you."  He threw his head back and laughed sharply.  Crescent ruffled her wings and slid her foot out.  Duran, who was too busy laughing at his own joke tripped and fell flat on his face.

The entire student body of Slayers Academy began laughing.  Crescent blushed as she went quickly to the group of competitors.  Selene and Xelloss winked at her.

_Meanwhile…._

The town court was located in the city hall.  It was not a large room but it was big enough to sit the jury, the two teams, and a handful of an audience.  Celeste nearly laughed when she entered.  She had to remind herself that this was Gourry's real trial, and not some mock debate.  Sylphiel tapped her and smiled encouragingly.  Sylphiel had obviously figured out something that Celeste hadn't because she was totally lost.  Still, Sylphiel had assured her again and again that she knew what she was doing.

Celeste's team, her, Sylphiel, and Gourry sat at their table while the opposing team, some lawyer representing Gaav's family, sat at the other.  A small audience was in the room whispering excitedly.  A cop entered.

"Please rise for the honorable judge."  He announced, his voice echoing through the room, which quieted accordingly.  All stood as entered and sat.  The room was quiet and Celeste was starting to feel a bit nervous.

"Will the defense please rise and state your case."  It was a command, not a question.

Sylphiel rose and Gourry and Celeste followed suit.  "The defense pleads not guilty of the murder of Gaav and we are here to prove that Gourry didn't do it."  Sylphiel said loudly.  The words sounded odd coming from her but the judge continued.

"Call your first witness."

"The defense calls Miss Aqua."  Sylphiel stated.  The teacher came forward and swore in.  Sylphiel then asked her to repeat what had happened on the fateful day and then about the information on how the teacher's communicated.

"So when Mr. Gaav called Gourry to his room was he speaking to you alone or the whole school?"

"Just to me, dear." Aqua replied.

"Thank you, that will be all."  Sylphiel sat and smiled at Gourry.

The judge leaned forward, "Would the prosecution like to cross examine the witness?"

The lawyer nodded and stood, approaching Aqua.  He leaned on her table and glared at her.  "Did Gourry seem mad when he left your classroom?"

"No, not really.  He is such a ni-"

            "Not really?"  The lawyer repeated.

            Aqua nodded, "Yes, that's it."

            "Could you be a little more specific?"

            Aqua frowned, "Well, he didn't seem to mind about not being picked but he did say it was too bad he wouldn't get to fight Mozoko Academy.  Apparently they had harmed a friend-"

            "Do you see, ladies and gentlemen?"  The lawyer interrupted Aqua and turned to the jury, "The desire to fight against his rival school was so great it drove the boy to kill.  It could have been something like a berserker mode but we will never know."

Celeste's lip curled in disgust.  The truth was that there was no supporting evidence to the supposed murder besides Gourry's sword and there was also no evidence saying he didn't do it.  At least not that Celeste knew of.

Next Sylphiel called Romulus to the stand.  Again she asked him to share his report while the offensive judge did not question him at all.

_Waitaminute!_ Celeste thought suddenly, _Gourry's sword is the key…  _Her thoughts trailed off as she turned to Sylphiel.  "Sylphiel, will you let me handle the next round?"

"But Cel-"

"Please!?"

Sylphiel sighed.  "Fine then.  Go ahead."

The judge addressed their table.  "Would the defense like to call another witness?"

Celeste stood and nodded firmly.  "The defense calls Gourry Gabrieve."  They swore him in and had him seated while Celeste planned her course of action.  "Could I please see evidence set #1, please?"

An aid, wearing gloves, brought Gourry's sword to the front and waited for Celeste to put on her own gloves.  Carefully she took the sword.

"Now Gourry," Celeste started, bringing his sword in front of him.  "Is this your sword?"

Gourry shook his head.  "It looks like it, sure does, but I'd know my sword like the back of my hand and that's not it."

"Really?" Celeste asked, "How can you be so sure?"

Gourry shrugged, "Well, that's sword has obviously never been used.  It doesn't have any dents or scratches or anything and my sword is magickal in nature it carries the marks of it's battles."

Celeste silently thanked goddess for Gourry having such knowledge of weaponry and for the fact that all the jurors and pretty much everybody used a sword or knew something about them.  She turned to face the audience and jury.

"So the truth is revealed, Gourry's sword is not really Gourry's sword but a fake produced so well that even when you remove the blade a beam of light is given off…" She did so and indeed the Sword of Light was there but Celeste calmly slid her hand through the light, grinning at the shocked faces of everyone in the crowd. "…But it is all an elaborate illusion put in place to frame Gourry Gabriev for the murder of Gaav."  The room went into a roar of voices and lawyers shouting while the judge tried to bring them all to quiet.

"You will wait to make the accusations till your rebuttal, young lady, do you understand me?"  The judge asked.  Celeste nodded and went to her seat where Sylphiel was waiting bright eyed.  "Will the prosecution cross examine the witness?"

Gaav's lawyer glanced at Celeste and Sylphiel; Celeste saw that he was sweating.  "Yes sir." He stood and approached the bench to begin questioning.  Celeste saw the skeptical faces of the jury and realized she and Sylphiel had practically won, if only they could figure out who really did it.

She felt a tap on her shoulder and looked at Sylphiel who motioned for her to lean closer.  "Let me tell you what really happened, Celeste, since I've got this whole thing figured out."

Selene watched the Shadow's performance with the slightest bit of jealousy.  She was positive that she wasn't going to look that good when she got out there.  She sighed, if Shadow won his round then Slayers Academy would be ahead by one round and it wouldn't be devastating for Selene to lose her round, except for the fact that her mother was out in the crowd.  She sighed again and reviewed the tournament in her mind, looking for some sort of pattern.

Rune had gone first fighting a girl named Cassidy Dell.  Cassidy had been surprisingly good at the Rapier and beaten Rune.  Selene chuckled at the girls nickname: Cassidy the Courageous.  She highly doubted the girl had picked it herself and it proved that the fighters nicknames had nothing to do with their ability, well, come of them.

Zangulus had fought second in the broadsword competition.  He had won, and not surprisingly since he was the only person besides Zel and Gaav who could stand for long against Gourry.  Even though Zangulus had won it had been no easy victory.  His opponent had been strong but not strong enough.

The third competition was archery, Crescent going against that idiot Duran.  Crescent had won from the beginning and even though Duran had tried to cheat at the end she had still won and none of the teachers even noticed him cheating.  Duran actually sucked at the bow and Selene wondered if he had entered simply to aggravate Crescent.

Now Shadow was up, and true to his nickname he was fighting as if in a dance, the foil moving quickly to strike, parry, and block his opponents.  The fight went quickly and Selene was sure she was not the only one who couldn't follow the two.  She looked at Xelloss.  He was just sitting there with his eyes closed.  Selene scanned the audience and really couldn't make out any faces but quickly turned her attention to the ring when she heard the loud groans from the slayers Academy students.  Shadow had lost and it was now her turn.  Xelloss opened an eye and grinned at her.  "Try to blow someone up for me, please?"

Selene laughed, "This isn't a magick competition, Xelloss, it's strictly weapons."  She emphasized the words with a swipe of her blade and left for the ring.  Her opponent, Juntai, was tall.  Of course, Selene wasn't exactly tall herself and it seemed everyone was tall to her, excluding the tiny Manda and Amelia.  He was wearing only loose fitting pants a grinned at the crowd.  Not egotistically but friendly-like.  He wasn't bad looking but Selene knew that he knew how to use his weapon.

"Good luck to you."  He greeted her, moving into a ready stance.  Selene vaguely heard the announcer saying something.

"Yes.  Good luck."  A shot rang out and Juntai was moving, quite speedily.  Selene moved faster, her smallness helping greatly, and her mind blanked out.  She heard people shouting, saw Juntai moving, felt air sliced by dulled blades, and smiled when it was over.  She had won, Juntai sitting patiently at the tip of her saber, his own a few feet away.  Selene wondered how she had done it.

Eris sat at the witness stand, looking stressed and upset.  Celeste liked that: it meant she was worried.

"So, how did you know that Gourry and Romulus were going to Gaav's office?"  Eris looked around uncomfortably, opened her mouth and then closed it again, "And the, Miss Eris, why did you accuse Romulus of cheating on a paper when he didn't even turn in one?  Could it be because you needed Gourry to be alone with Gaav where he could be framed for Gaav's murder without interference?  Could it be because you were in on the plot to put Gourry out of the competition?  Could it be-"

"Alright!" Eris shouted, tears streaming down her face.  "It's true, Gourry was framed.  But I didn't want to do it! I had too, he made me, HE MADE ME!!!"  She began sobbing hysterically and Celeste turned and shrugged at Celeste.  The judge was staring at the two, obviously shocked and completely forgetting his hammer.  He turned to the teacher.

"Miss Eris, please calm down."  He said, standing from the judge's seat.  "If your 'confession' is true then we will find out but right now I would like to know where and who the person is that framed Gourry."

"It's Gaav!" Sylphiel shouted, jumping up from her seat.  Celeste had never seen her so excited.  "He got Eris to make a double of himself and the sword and then framed Gourry!  He's not dead and I bet he's at the tournament right now!"

The judge stared at Sylphiel.  "Miss Eris, is this accurate?"  Between sobs Eris sputtered out yes and explained how Gaav had made her do it because he was actually an old teacher from Mozoku high and he really wanted Slayers Academy's name to go down the drain.  The police took her away for questioning while the judge lead the rest of the room to the tournament.

Crescent sat alongside the rest of the slayers academy contestants on the edge of the waiting ring.  Xelloss was competing and it was probably the most interesting competition yet.  Xelloss stood, sort of, with his staff out stretched, on two posts.  His opponent, Aaron, who was apparently some sort of Ninja and whose nickname was Aaron the Kessenno Athema, stood on one post opposite him, balanced with his staff in one hand.  Crescent wasn't really sure how the fight worked, or even if it was a fight.  It seemed they both dashed around on the many posts, striking with the staffs and then suddenly they would both stop and stand there for a minute.

"Why don't they do something?"  She whispered impatiently.

"Because this is a test of both skill and endurance.  Didn't you listen to the rules?"  Zelgadis told her.  Crescent glanced at him a shrugged.

"No, I was to busy trying to ignore your annoying presence."  She thought she saw Zelgadis raise an eyebrow but ignored it.  She was trying to make sure he didn't get on her nerves, trying very carefully to make sure he knew he wasn't really bothering her at all.

"Well, they have to fight and keep their stances and go like this until one of them falls.  Usually the competitors actually don't loose the fights, they just fall over from exhaustion during one of the pauses."

Crescent nodded.  Xelloss didn't look tired; actually, he looked amused, standing there with a grin on his face.  Aaron didn't exactly look tired, just serious.  "I hope he doesn't try to cheat."

"Who, Xelloss or the other guy?"  Selene asked from her other side. Crescent just grinned at her.

"Both."

"I doubt that the Kessenno would cheat."  Zelgadis replied.  Selene winked at Crescent who just shrugged.

"He comes from Mozoko High, doesn't he?"

Zel frowned, "That doesn't mean anything.  Just because you and your sister are cursed doesn't mean you're monsters, does it?"

It was Selene's turn to frown.  She turned away from the two and Crescent was sure she heard her whispering about trouble.  Crescent refused to get angry and forced a smile on her face.

"I don't know.  Does it?"

"Of course not.  So just because the Kessenno comes from Mozoko High doesn't mean he'll cheat.  I doubt even Xelloss will cheat during this.  The only idiot who isn't taking to competition seriously is Duran."

Crescent turned her attention to the ring, trying to focus on the fight was difficult with Zelgadis sitting right there, so calm about his own fight coming last.  At least she had won; even with that dope trying to cheat her she had still beaten him.

Xelloss and Aaron were fighting again.  Both of them were jumping from post to post trying to hit each other.  Aaron tried to knock Xelloss of his feet but he just jumped away and swung his own staff at Aaron's back.  Aaron ducked and pulled his staff up for Xelloss' stomach.  He twisted and blocked, bringing the two face to face for a second.  Crescent thought she saw Xelloss whisper something to Aaron who looked quite enraged.  Xelloss' jumped back as the whistle sounded.  Aaron kept his place, glaring at Xelloss.  When the whistle sounded again Aaron attacked with a barrage of stabs and swings.  Xelloss bounded backwards, looking ecstatic that his competitor was trying to kill him.  Crescent heard Selene muttering to herself and saw what she was muttering at.  Xelloss was eventually going to run out of posts and he didn't even see it, instead his eyes were fixed on something behind Aaron, though he continued to dodge the attacks.  Crescent looked backwards towards where Xelloss was looking and gaped.  She could have sworn that she had just seen Gaav.

"Um, Selene?  I think-"

A roar of laughter had erupted from the opposite side of the arena, where Mozoko high was seated.  Crescent saw that Xelloss had indeed fallen.  He didn't look upset and tried to shake Aaron's hand.  Aaron refused and Xelloss shrugged returning to the waiting ring where Selene slapped him over the head.

"What did you go an do that for!?  You could have won! I bet you knew that you were running out of room! Don't you realize that we are now down one round and that Zelgadis HAS to win his round or we lose?  What were you thinking!?"

"That…" Xelloss replied, grinning and tapping his nose, "…That is a secret.  Now, have more faith in my little Zel-Chan.  He's actually pretty good."

"Argh!"  Selene yelled pulling a giant saber.  "Die Xelloss! Die!"  The two ran off leaving crescent to shake her head.  She was sure that Riley would show up sooner or later to protect her lovely Xelloss-sama, and she did not want to be there when that happened.

"What did Xelloss see?"

Crescent jumped.  She spun around to find Zelgadis standing there, determinedly calm with his bastard sword in hand.  "What do you mean?"  She snapped.

Zelgadis didn't look at her; he just stared strait ahead, his face looking particularly stony.  "I saw you look back.  What were you and Xelloss looking at?"

"Gaav is in the stands."  Crescent said.  Zelgadis peered at her, as if he were trying to decide if she were lying or not.  "It's true.  At least, it looked a lot like him.  I'd be careful if I were you.  It looks like Mozoko high _is_ playing dirty."

"Playing dirty is so much fun!" Xelloss said, suddenly appearing next to Crescent's shoulder.  "Please don't tell Selene, that would ruin all my fun!"  He disappeared.

Zelgadis stepped out of the ring without a word.

"I wish Gourry were fighting."  Crescent muttered.  She thought she saw Zelgadis' head twitch slightly but figured it was her imagination.

            Sylphiel gasped as they entered the arena.  It was huge! And to think the students of slayers academy built this thing.  She and Celeste lead the procession of jurors, judges, and witnesses.  Eris had joined them as well, escorted by to officers.  Gourry was following the judge, pretty much unsure of anything that was happening.

            "What are we doing here?"  He asked, tapping Sylphiel on her shoulder.  "I thought I wasn't competing in the tournament."

            Sylphiel smiled and patted Gourry's hand.  "Oh, Gourry-sama, you might get to fight after all!  Isn't that great?"

            Gourry scratched his head.  "Yeah.  But where's my sword?  I hope Lina didn't steal it."

            Celeste chuckled. "Don't worry, Gourry.  _Lina_ didn't steal your sword, Gaav did."

            "I thought that I had killed Gaav?"

            "Nope, Gourry, you sure didn't."  Celeste replied, still laughing.

            "Good.  I thought I didn't, but with this whole trial thing I wasn't really sure."

            Sylphiel couldn't help but smile and hug Gourry.  The group was now coming upon the announcer's stand and she could see that most of the audience hadn't even noticed their arrival.  All eyes were glued to Zelgadis and his opponent.  Sylphiel whispered to the announcer, asking for the score.  Slayers Academy was down one round, which meant Zelgadis, had to win to tie the tournament.

            "I wonder how long they've been fighting?"  Sylphiel asked aloud.  Celeste pointed to the waiting ring for the Slayers students and both went to where Crescent stood, looking somewhat worried.

            "How long have they been at it, sis?"  Celeste asked her sister.

            Crescent blinked at them, "Aren't you supposed to be in court?"

            "Well, we've brought the court with us.  It turns out-"

            "Gaav framed Gourry."  Xelloss finished, appearing next to Celeste with Selene right behind him.

            "Is that your secret!?" Selene shouted, grabbing the front of Xelloss' shirt.  "Is that what I've been chasing you all over this ring for!?"

            "Of course."

            "Aaaaarrrgggghhh!!!  Die Xelloss! Dieeeeeeee!!!"  Both disappeared.

            "Anyway," Crescent directed their attention back to herself; "Both Xelloss and I saw Gaav in the stands."

            "Yeah, we figured out what he had done and came here as quickly as possible.  How long have they been at it?"

            "Zelgadis and Moro?"  Crescent asked, looking worriedly at the fighters, "For thirty minutes.  They each have to mark their opponent five times before either can win.  Zelgadis has slipped twice and been marked three times.  Moro, his opponent hasn't slipped at all, has had to replace his sword after Zelgadis broke it, and been marked three times as well."

            "You mean actually falling?"  Celeste asked, "I couldn't imagine Zelgadis doing that."

            "It happened, but only recently.  I'm not sure if having stone skin makes the heat better or worse but I'm betting Moro's sweating enough for both of them."

            A cheer went up and Sylphiel saw that Zelgadis had marked Moro again.  He stood in a stance of pure defense, which surprised Sylphiel.  Moro charged for attack after attack and Zelgadis only defended, blocking again and again.  As if she had asked the question aloud Crescent told her why.

            "He's waiting for a shot he'll know will get in, one Moro can't block.  It's a slow process but it's worked so far."  Sylphiel smiled at Crescent who blushed and turned away to talk to Selene.

            The clang of metal made Sylphiel look up.  Moro was trying to force Zelgadis to his knees.  He swung his foot out, sweeping Zelgadis who fell backwards.  Moro slashed his blade at the same moment that Zelgadis turned and stabbed at him.  Silence filled the arena.  Zelgadis had been marked once more but the tip of his blade was touching Moro's stomach.  The fifth mark for Slayers Academy.

            As the cheers rang out Sylphiel turned to Celeste who nodded at her.  They both approached the announcer.  He was already speaking with the judge so they waited patiently.

            "So these young ladies think that Gaav is in the arena, though they aren't exactly sure where."  The judge was explaining.  "They seem to think he framed Gourry and with Miss Eris' testimony it shouldn't be hard to prove him guilty, _if_ we can find him."

            Amelia was shaking her head beside him.  "To think Teachers could sink to such a level of dishonesty and do such horrible things."  
            "Where did you come from?" Celeste asked.

            Amelia smiled at her and flashed a peace sign, "I was supposed to be giving out the awards for this tournament and doing all the official announcing."

            Sylphiel focused on the announcer.  "Please don't announce that we're looking for Gaav until after we have captured him, I don't want to have to worry-"

            "Why worry?"  Xelloss asked, "They cause such stress lines and wrinkles in the face."

            "Where did you come from?"  Celeste asked, startled.

            "Why, I just pooped in."  He replied grinning.

            Sylphiel forced a smile and returned to her conversation with the announcer, "I don't want to have to worry about-"

            "The only person who has to worry is Xelloss!"  Selene growled, grabbing Xelloss' shirt.

            Xelloss grinned.  "Oops, you found me, now it's your turn to hide."

            "We're not playing hide 'n go seek, Xelloss.  We're playing pin the saber on the slayer student.  And can you guess who the slayers student is?"

            "Not a clue."  Xelloss replied.

            "Anyway."  Sylphiel tried to smile, "I don't want to have to worry about having-"

            "What's to worry about?" Crescent interrupted dryly, "I mean except for the fact that the supposedly dead Gaav is back and sitting in the stands."

            "I still very much doubt you saw Gaav."  Zelgadis added.

            "Where did you two-" Celeste started.

            "He is out there.  Just because you're too blind to see him, too bad, he's sitting out there right now, trying to figure out a way to get out of here and glancing at us nervously."

            "I'm not-"

            "Wait one second!"  Sylphiel shouted.  Everyone surrounding stopped talking and looked at her.  "We are trying to solve a case here so please, be quiet!  Now Crescent, you're telling me you know where Gaav is right now?"

            "Yes."

            "Do you think you could sneak up on him without him seeing you and capture him?"

            Crescent glanced at the stands, "I would need help.  Someone to cast the spells to bind him; I can't cast white spells well."

            Sylphiel opened her mouth to volunteer Celeste but Zelgadis spoke up first.

            "I'll go."  Crescent was glaring at him, Celeste was hiding a giggle behind her hand, Selene was smiling behind Crescent and Zelgadis, but he didn't seem to notice any of it.  "Just to make sure Crescent doesn't get into any more trouble."

            Sylphiel nodded.  "Okay, but hurry.  We'll explain that Gourry-sama is being allowed to fight the tie breaker and let Mozoko High choose someone form their team to fight him."  Crescent stalked away, followed by Zelgadis.

  Behind her, Crescent heard Sylphiel announcing Gourry's return to the arena and the rounds of cheers that greeted him.  Annoyingly enough she also heard the sound of Zelgadis.

            "I can take care of this without your help you know."

            "You just said you couldn't do it without a spell caster."  He replied, catching up with her.

            She paused, "True, but Celeste could've don't it.  She and I usually work as a team."

            "I didn't want her to distract you.  When you two get around each other you change completely."

            "Like you won't distract me." She muttered.  They went behind the seats, in the general area where Crescent thought she had seen Gaav.  All right, now I'm sure he's around here somewhere, though he's probably already moving around.  I'll fly up and look for him and then come back down and point him out.  Got it?"

            She did not wait for a reply.  Up she went until she was above everyone sitting in the Mozoko High section.  She was behind them where they couldn't see her.  She scanned the crowd.  Gaav had been wearing a long dark trench coat and big black hat.  Still, his long red hair should give him away but she couldn't see it so instead she made sure Zelgadis was out of the way.

            "Oh great."  She muttered. Duran and the other competitors, excluding Moro, surrounded Zelgadis.  She flew down and landed lightly between Zelgadis and Duran.

            "My, my, if it isn't little miss wings."  Duran spat, "So nice of you to join us."

            Crescent surveyed the group, Zelgadis looked calm enough, but then again, he always did.  "What happened to your usual group of lackey's?"

            "They didn't have enough backbone so I got rid of them and got myself a new group."  Cassidy snorted and Duran glared at her, "This one should make short work of you and blue boy."

            "Whatever, can we just skip the crap and you just tell us where Gaav is?"  Crescent snapped.

            "Gaav is dead," Aaron replied.  "I don't know how you got your swordsman out of it but he killed Gaav, we all heard about it."  Crescent noticed that Duran was looking a bit more nervous.

            "I never did understand why they fired him," Cassidy added, "He was a good teacher and now look where he is."  The rest of the group nodded, all except Duran.

            "Gaav used to teach at Mozoko High?"  Zelgadis questioned.

            Cassidy nodded before Duran could shout shut up.  She stared icily at him in return.  "That's right, he was the weapon's sensei."

            "Well, Gourry didn't kill him, isn't that right, Duran."  Crescent stated calmly.

            "What are you saying girlie?"

            "You knew about the whole thing!"  Crescent shouted, "You're probably here to distract Zelgadis and me so that Gaav can leave!"

            "It's working isn't it?"  He sneered before he realized his mistake.  Juntai, Cassidy, and Aaron were staring incredulously at him.

            "What's she talking about, Duran?"  Aaron asked.  Duran grinned.

            "Well, you know what, I guess I can tell you guys.  See, I was the only one important enough to tell at first.  Gaav wasn't fired, or at least, not really.  He was sent to Slayers academy to sabotage them this year.  He knew all about the tournament, and told me so I could help.  Like I said: the only on-"

            "Stupid enough."  Cassidy growled.  "Are you serious?  You mean Gaav's murder was fake?  I can't believe this, I didn't even think my school would sink so low."

            Aaron nodded, "This is not right.  Our school should be disqualified."

            "You're fools to think so," Juntai laughed.  "Our school is known for its trickery, it just show our cunning.  You should be proud we pulled this off."

            "Juntai's right you two.  You're just babies who don't want to get their hands dirty."  Duran added.

            Cassidy grimaced at Crescent.  "Sorry about this.  We had no idea, but I think we can help you out."  She smiled evilly and turned to Duran.  "Alright Duran. You'll tell us where Gaav is won't you.  You already know that Aaron and I are much better fighters then you."

            Duran looked around.  Juntai had disappeared; he swallowed.  "Gaav is probably just outside the arena.  Waiting for me."  Then he ran off.  Aaron looked apologetically at Crescent and Zelgadis.

            "We'll make sure the principal finds out about this.  After all, we know he's a decent person."  Crescent wasn't sure if he was serious or not and didn't have time to find out because Zelgadis was pulling her to the exit of the arena.

            "We've got to hurry.  That was nice handling of the situation.  How did you know Duran knew?" Zelgadis asked quickly.

            "Being in the background for so long help's you learn to read people," Crescent replied, pulling her arm free of Zelgadis' hand, "Most of the time, at least."

            They went outside, where Gaav was standing with his back to the exit.  He turned when he heard them but before he could open his mouth Zelgadis had cast the spell.  Crescent went to the now frozen-in-place Gaav and pulled off his hat.  They both carried him back into the arena.

            At…

…This is an interruption from the Author's subconscious, in other words, an author's note.  Because I have just realized that the chapter is dragging on and it goes against the author's character to read or write a chapter that is longer than eight pages, I'm going to end it sort of abruptly.  Thank you, and now….

            The announcement was made that Mozoko High's former teacher, Gaav, was conspiring to make sure that Slayers academy failed in the tournament and to frame Gourry Gabriev for murder.  Neither plans succeeded.  Mozoko high was disqualified for the weapon's round, which would have resulted in Slayer's Academy winning except for the fact that the kind student body of the school said that they could just go ahead and forego such an act and let the actual winner of the tournament win.  Gourry Gabriev had already beaten Moro the wolf God at that point which did result in Slayer's academy winning.  Amelia presented the ceremony of awards and gave each winner of a round a trophy accompanied by her own speech about how she hoped they would each use their skills for good-doing and justice.  There was a small appearance made by Xelloss during the ceremony, followed by Selene Lunar who was followed by Riley.  At the end, Gourry was asking for someone to explain slowly and in few words what had just happened.

            The next day at Slayers academy was normal (if any day at slayers could be called that) except for the fact that the weapon's sensei was missing.  The students went back to their grueling work and the principal began looking for the newest weapon's sensei.

            This concludes the summary-

Lina:  Wait a minute! How come I was hardly in this chapter, or any of the other chapters!?  Aren't I, Lina Inverse, the beautiful genius sorceress supposed to be the star of Slayers?  Where's my contract!? I'll sue!

Sylphiel and Celeste:  Not another trial!

Xelloss:  Ooooo! Can I play a judge?

Selene:  Die Xelloss! Dieeeee!!!

Zinka:  the chapter is over now! You can all go away!

Selene:  Die Zinka! Dieeeee!!!

Zinka: umm, this concludes this chapter.  Ummm…bye now….AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!

Author's note:  sorry people, couldn't help myself^.^


End file.
